WHITEROSE REMEDY
by DataGrowth
Summary: An icy exterior shields the broken past of Weiss Schnee. Perhaps the key to resolving the repressed feelings of yearning and sadness lies in the most unlikely of people: Ruby Rose. After all, victory lies in the simpler things that have been long forgotten. Things that require a smaller, more honest soul. White Rose pairing, rated T for now, but may change later to M.
1. Chapter 1

_**WHITEROSE REMEDY**_

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An icy exterior shields the broken past of Weiss Schnee. Perhaps the key to resolving the repressed feelings of yearning and sadness lies in the most unlikely of people: Ruby Rose. After all, victory lies in the simpler things that have been long forgotten. Things that require a smaller, more honest soul.

White Rose pairing (If not indicated already by the title)

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**Hi, DataGrowth here! This is my first time ever writing here on fanfiction. I've had a few experiences writing on other websites, but very, very strong emphasis on the word 'few.' Anyways, this story will primarily focus on the viewpoints of both Ruby and Weiss. I'll update as frequently as I can, but remember that I am human after all, so if I miss a few deadlines, don't leave just yet! Hope you enjoy! If you have any comments, criticisms, or feedback in general, I'd be happy to hear them through comments, reviews, and PMs. **

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**NOTE: ALL WORKS BESIDES THE STORY PAST THE INTRO BELONG TO MONTY OUM AND ROOSTER TEETH. I AM IN NO WAY ASSOCIATED WITH ROOSTER TEETH OR MONTY OUM, AND I GIVE NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL CONCEPTS AND IDEAS BEHIND THIS FANFIC.**

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**_The time is set to the evening that Weiss's request to become the team leader was denied. However, rather than taking Prof. Port's words to heart, everyth__ing from this point will be different (either completely or in small aspects) from the rest of the season one that we know of._**

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▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **WEISS** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Weiss stormed through the hallway, angrily pushing aside the students that were in her way. Seeing her mood, students moved away from her hastily. There was no way that any sane student at Beacon Academy would dare to challenge Weiss Schnee while she was in a foul mood. Especially not while she had a weapon at her side. Despite it being the first official day of school, the ice queen had already gained some notoriety amongst the students. They knew that she was breathtakingly beautiful, but at the same time extremely arrogant as well as selfish, and at times, bitchy. Despite this, they also knew that Weiss Schnee was not the person you wanted to be on the bad side of. Things would not end well for you.

Weiss knew what most students thought of her. She knew that they whispered behind her back and quickly scattered whenever she approached them. These were further exemplified by the current situation as she stomped through the crowds and watched them disperse. She heard the whispering, but she didn't care. Right now, Weiss was too angry to think about anything save her current position under Ruby Rose. Ruby Rose. As Weiss thought about the name, she clenched her fist and walked a little bit faster. "The… immature… naïve… girl…" She muttered angrily to nobody in particular. Weiss had trained _so_ hard. She had done _everything_ within her power to improve her skills. Countless years of training alone under different tutors and teachers… "_And for what_?" Weiss thought to herself angrily. "_To be surpassed by this LITTLE GIRL?" _

Weiss stormed outside to the balcony, no particular destination in mind. She felt like yelling at the top of her lungs, but she couldn't do that. That would be improper. Inside, Weiss felt like… crying? Her facial expression changed to that of a sadder, more broken face. Then her face hardened again. "_No."_ Weiss thought again, shutting out the thought. _"Tears are for the weak"_ She thought to herself, recalling her father's words from countless occasions. With another harsh sigh of frustration, Weiss sat down hard onto a bench. She put her head into her hands.

Ruby watched her from the entrance of the school, concerned. She wanted to go out there and talk to her… to comfort her, but Ruby knew that this was not the time. Actually, she wasn't sure if there would actually _be _a time that she could talk comfortably to Weiss again. Sighing heavily, Ruby turned around and walked back inside.

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▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **RUBY** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Ruby glanced at the clock, which read 11:48 pm. She looked around. Yang was playing a game on her scroll while Blake was reading a book. Weiss was still nowhere to be seen. Ruby sighed again, feeling helpless. What could she possibly do in this situation? She admitted it, maybe she wasn't acting the way that a proper leader should have acted, but she didn't see any way that she would be able to make amends with Weiss. After all, it wasn't _her _decision to want to become leader. Ruby thought back to the words of Ozpin.

_"Being a team leader isn't just a title you carry into battle, but a badge you wear constantly. If you're not always performing at your absolute best, then what reason do you give __others__ to follow you?"_

Ruby felt especially troubled at those lines. She was only fifteen. Even though she knew that she was skilled enough with her Crescent Rose, she felt inadequate when comparing herself to all the other older students at Beacon. Even to the team that she led… No, _especially_ to the team that she led. It was probably Ruby herself who was the most surprised when professor Ozpin had called her name when selecting the team leader. Ruby sighed once more, still lacking a solution to all of what was happening.

"I wonder where Weiss is." Yang said, bored of the game that she had been playing for the last hour.

"It _is_ getting pretty late," Blake added in her usual flat tone of voice. "I wonder if it has anything to do with how upset she seemed in Grimm Studies today." Ruby looked away. She hadn't mentioned what had happened with Weiss after class to Blake or her sister. The truth is, Ruby didn't really know how she felt about Weiss. Ruby reflected back to her first ever encounter with Weiss. Ruby remembered that the first thing that she had ever noticed about Weiss, besides the loud, irritated yelling about how careless Ruby was, actually was her breathtaking beauty. It was as if she was a princess that had come straight out of a story book. However, Ruby remembered that she didn't have time to admire Weiss's beauty for long before she exploded again... literally. Ruby smiled at that memory.

Past that point, Ruby had a very difficult time getting along with her. It was clear by the way Weiss talked and acted around her that she saw Ruby as somebody who was lower than her. Of course, she spoke and acted in that condescending manner around most people, but Ruby, being as young as she was, felt it even more so than others. It was clear that Weiss thought she was better than Ruby. The only thing that frustrated her was that Weiss didn't believe that Ruby was _any _good.

Though there _was_ the instance where Weiss agreed to work together with Ruby in the Emerald Forest, after finding out that Ruby would be the leader of RWBY, they seemed to be back to square one. Now Weiss treated her no differently than she had on the first day they had met. "_Maybe it's because you're not living up to your title of a leader,"_ Ruby thought to herself. Thinking about it, there were actually very few reasons why Weiss should even want to pursue a relationship with Ruby.

"_Wait, how did I just word that?" _Ruby asked herself. Clearly, that wasn't what she meant to think… Ruby shook her head and dismissed the thought. That brought her back to her original thought: How she actually _felt_ about Weiss. There was a strange feeling that Ruby held towards Weiss that she just could not really explain. All she knew was that she desperately wanted Weiss to like her and she didn't know why.

Ruby looked up from her thoughts and realized that Yang and Blake were already sleeping. Weiss still wasn't back. Ruby sighed and turned to face the ceiling. She knew that she wouldn't be falling asleep any time soon.

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▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **WEISS** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Weiss approached the door hesitantly. Bringing out her card, she unlocked the door and slipped inside. She looked at the clock. It read 2:11 am. Cautiously, Weiss checked around the room. Her gaze settled on Ruby. Her face showed no emotion as her gaze held for about ten seconds. Then she turned away. Figuring everybody to be asleep, she didn't bother taking her clothes to the bathroom and decided to change in the room. She tugged off her school clothes and neatly put them in her dirty clothes basket. Shortly after, she found and slipped into her sleeping gown. Sighing heavily, she slid under her covers and closed her eyes, not wanting to think about anything. After a few minutes, she fell asleep.

Ruby turned over, thinking hard about what she had just witnessed. This feeling… what was it? Images of Weiss without proper clothing flashed back through her mind. What was going on? She had never felt this way in her entire life. Ruby stayed awake another half hour, thinking hard. Then, she too, finally fell into the clutches of sleep and drifted off.

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▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **RUBY** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

"Ruby, get up!" Ruby heard a voice say. It was Yang's.

"Ughhhh, five more minutes…" Ruby called out sleepily. A pillow hit her head.

"We're going to miss breakfast!" Yang yelled back. Ruby didn't respond. Another pillow hit her face.

"Okay, okay!" Ruby cried grudgingly. She slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes. Normally, Ruby was the first one up in the room, but after her little amount of sleep from the night before, she was dead-tired. Ruby looked down from her bunk bed and caught a glimpse of Weiss's bed. Instantly, images of Weiss last night flooded her head. Ruby's eyes opened quickly. The rest of the day came back to her soon after the images. She looked around. Weiss was not in the room. "Where's Weiss?" Ruby asked.

"Dunno," Blake said. "I heard her rise about an hour ago. She left without us." Ruby fell backwards and sighed. She really was _that _upset.

"Ruby," Yang called out. "You really need to get a move on. We are seriously going to be late… we might even miss breakfast." If Yang had another pillow, she probably would have thrown it at her. Ruby knew that Yang loved her breakfast. Typically, if Yang missed a meal, a very unpleasant side of her tended to appear and linger throughout the rest of the day. Sighing again, Ruby got up and got ready for breakfast.

* * *

Even in the cafeteria, Weiss was nowhere to be seen. Yang and Blake looked worriedly at Ruby, who was spinning her fork around in her sausages rather than eating them. It didn't take a genius to tell that something was wrong. The pair had already put two and two together about the lack of Weiss and Ruby's somber mood and decided to confront Ruby about it.

"Ruby," Yang said. "You don't have to hide anything from us… What is going on between you and Weiss?" Ruby looked up startled. Immediately she thought Yang was talking about Ruby's confused feelings regarding Weiss. About how she felt about her… and how she had seen her naked.

"N-nothing." Ruby stammered.

"We're not _that_ dumb," Yang replied. "We know that she wasn't in the best of moods yesterday, and she didn't return to our room until late at night. You also seemed really quiet yesterday also." Ruby sighed in relief. It wasn't about that. Yang took Ruby's sigh for something else. "If something is wrong, then you _can_ share it with us Ruby. We're your team after all… No, I'm your _sister_ after all." Ruby looked into Blake's amber eyes. Then she shifted her focus to Yang's violet eyes.

"Really Yang, it's nothing." Ruby said. She didn't want to seek pity from her sister or Blake. They probably had enough to deal with given their weak leader. However, she knew from experience that Yang wasn't the type to give up until she had an answer, so Ruby excused herself from the table. "I need to use the restroom before class," She said, hurrying towards the exit. Yang looked away.

"Be sure to go quickly," Blake called after Ruby. "Class starts in a few minutes." Yang looked down. That didn't go the way she had planned it to go.

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▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **WEISS** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Weiss didn't turn as the rest of team RWBY entered the room late. "_What should I expect?" _Weiss thought to herself, airily. She made no eye contact with any of them despite the way that Ruby was desperately trying to capture her attention from the seat about twenty feet to the right of her. After a few minutes, Weiss noticed that Ruby had given up trying to get her attention and sat staring straight ahead of herself. _"Better for her,_" Weiss thought to herself. They had a class to focus on anyways.

After twenty minutes into the lesson, Weiss admitted to herself that the class was quite boring. Much of the material that the professor covered was knowledge that Weiss had known beforehand. Relearning information was dull. She glanced over at Ruby. Much to her surprise, she wasn't goofing off the way that she had expected Ruby to be doing. Instead, she was focusing intently on the information being provided and… taking notes? Weiss looked a little closer. She could see the expression that Ruby held. It was mysterious but sad… strangely an expression that Weiss recognized that she herself had worn on many occasions. Weiss looked back up. There was no use thinking about that sort of stuff. It was impractical and unprofessional. She had outgrown that. But had she? Weiss looked down, lost in her thoughts. She was still upset at Ruby, and Ozpin, and everything that had happened leading up to her current position as a… _lackey_. _"Is that all I was meant to be here at this school?" _Weiss thought to herself angrily. She waited impassively for the lesson to be over.

The class was finally dismissed after nearly an hour of the boring lecture. Weiss hurried past her team. She had no desire to talk to any of them at this current situation.

"Weiss, please wait!" She heard Ruby's voice call out above the commotion. She didn't care. She hurried out of the door past the crowd of students doing the same. About fifteen steps into the hallway, Weiss felt a small hand grab her shoulder. She knew it was Ruby. She knew that despite Ruby's shortcomings, she was still an incredibly fast girl. "Please, just talk to me!" Ruby cried.

"ABOUT WHAT?" Weiss yelled, turning around fiercely and making Ruby, along with a few students in the hallway, flinch.

"I-I don't know!" Ruby cried. "I'm sorry! I really am sorry about how everything turned out! It wasn't _MY _fault that I was chosen to be the team leader! Honestly, I really just wished that it was different, or _you _were the team leader so you wouldn't feel this way about me!" Weiss could tell that Ruby was making a very strong effort to hold in her tears. It wasn't completely successful, as some water began to leak out around her eyes.

"Saying sorry isn't going to change anything," Weiss replied, her face stoic. "Either get better than me or don't talk to me at all. It's bad enough that I need you to represent me, I don't need to make it any worse by associating with you." A tear fell down Ruby's cheek. Weiss could tell that Ruby was trying to say something, but she choked up instead and looked down. Weiss watched her for a moment. Then she strode off to her next class. Luckily, this was a class that she didn't have with Ruby.

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▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **RUBY** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Ruby felt as if she had been punched. Her attempts to apologize to Weiss to get her to like her more had failed utterly. She couldn't even form a response to Weiss's come back. She realized that a tear had fallen down her cheek and scrubbed her eyes hastily. She felt so _stupid_. So _inadequate._ So… What was it? There was such a strong urge to impress Weiss, and the way that things were going, it didn't seem like that was happening anytime soon. Seeing that Weiss was already gone, Ruby turned around and began to head to her next class. With her head down, Ruby failed to notice passing by Blake, who had seen and heard everything that had just taken place.

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▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **WEISS** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Weiss thought hard about the encounter with Ruby. The tears. The sadness that Ruby displayed… as if it had stemmed down much deeper than simply being sorry about being the team leader. It was as if she so desperately wanted to say something but couldn't. There was just something about Ruby's face back there that Weiss couldn't deduce. Something that reminded her of herself. Before she could finish that thought, however, she heard a voice next to her.

"What you did back there was selfish and childlike." Weiss turned. It was Blake, looking angry. "Ruby is only a child, and I don't think you can even begin to understand how hard she is trying to gain your approval. "

"But that's just it!" Weiss hissed back in a hushed tone, as class had already started. "She's just a _child_. She is most definitely not fit to be a leader… much less over _me._"

"You call Ruby childish, and at least she has an excuse for it. Take a look at yourself and just ask, who is really the child here?" Blake replied. Weiss stopped talking.

"There's obviously something that you're failing to realize also." Blake replied. "I know that you pride yourself as smart and strong and… better, but don't you think that Ozpin would be smart enough to see those characteristics also? For all these years that he's spent at this academy, he obviously can't be _stupidly blind_. There has to be _something_ about Ruby that he saw and decided was worthy of leadership material… And maybe that's _something _that you _don't _have."

Weiss tried to come up with a comeback and realized that she could not. Anyways, Blake had already turned away. "_Maybe she's right,"_ Weiss thought to herself. Was she being too hard on Ruby? She reflected on her actions in the past twenty four hours. Though Ruby was clearly a dolt who seemed highly inexperienced, Weiss realized that it was stupid to blame her for not being trained as intensely as Weiss had been trained. Honestly, it would have been stupid to expect anybody to perform at the level that Weiss did. Weiss thought about it some more.

Then Weiss realized why the face that she had recognized on Ruby back in the hallway looked so familiar. It was of a pain and loneliness that yearned for affection. An affection that Weiss had longed for, but never received when she was a child.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Hey guys, DataGrowth here! I am so sorry about the time it took to get this chapter up and running. The thing is, I already have a very large vision for the entirety of the plot (well, at least for a large **_**section**_** of the plot. There probably will be much more to come even after that). I was having a little bit of trouble piecing together how I would lead up to that vision, and I ended up trashing about three entirely written chapters because they didn't really lead up to my vision adequately. Anyways, a very big shout out to my girlfriend for helping me with a few fine points (okay, I'll admit it, she gave me a lot of inspiration for most of this chapter actually). **

**In regards of time, I'm going to **_**tryyy**_** to get a new chapter in a least a few times in a week. Ideally, I'm hoping to have at least three chapters uploaded in a single week, but my chapters are fairly long and hey, things come up. I'm trying :)**

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**NOTE: ALL WORKS BESIDES THE STORY PAST THE INTRO BELONG TO MONTY OUM AND ROOSTER TEETH. I AM IN NO WAY ASSOCIATED WITH ROOSTER TEETH OR MONTY OUM, AND I GIVE NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL CONCEPTS AND IDEAS BEHIND THIS FANFIC.**

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▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **RUBY** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Ruby woke with a start to an unfamiliar environment. She was surrounded by white walls and bright, white lights. Shaking her head, she sat up. After her eyes adjusted, she realized that she was in the infirmary. Not a moment later, Ruby felt herself crushed between a pair of arms. The air was quickly squeezed out of her lungs as she struggled to react. After a moment of initial shock, she realized that it was Yang. "Y…Yang," Ruby coarsely choked out. "Can't… Breathe." Yang let go of Ruby and Ruby gasped for breath.

"Ruby!" Yang exclaimed. "I was so worried about you! You didn't show up at all for Oobleck's class, so I went and looked for you. I found you on the floor of the training grounds, passed out and clutching Crescent Rose. I thought something bad happened to you." Ruby blinked. On the floor of the training grounds? Last that she could remember, she was practicing her scythe techniques on the simulator. The simulator, or more specifically, the interactive dust powered simulator (IDPS Mk II.) projected fake targets that students could use to practice their combat skills on. It was an ideal solution to the countless amounts of straw dummies that had to be replaced year after year from aggressive students practicing lethal techniques.

A woman entered the room, which Ruby immediately recognized as the nurse. The nurse flipped through her clipboard and turned towards Yang. "Well, seeing as there were no marks, bruises, or signs of assault on the body, we've come to the conclusion that your sister merely passed out from over-exhaustion. Her dangerous levels of dehydration when you brought her in show that it was likely the case." The nurse then turned towards Ruby. "I understand that you students may easily be caught up in the moment during combat, but it's important that you don't over-exert yourself while training. You were lucky that your sister went looking for you when she did, because a few hours later and you might have underwent some more serious symptoms." Ruby looked down, ashamed. It was a stupid mistake to forget to stay hydrated while training as intensely as she had been training.

After a few more points had been made from the nurse about staying hydrated and remaining healthy, she told Yang and Ruby that they were free to go and to take it easy for a few days. The pair rose and started walking back to their dorm.

"Where are we supposed to be right now?" Ruby asked her sister.

"If you're worried about classes," Yang replied. "The infirmary excused us from all of our classes for the rest of the day. But if you really want to know, we should be in Professor Peach's class right now."

"Shoot, I was really out for that long?" Ruby asked as they reached their room. Professor Peach's class was the last class of the day. That meant that Ruby had been passed out since free time after lunch: About four hours. She sighed. She would have to be less careless in the future when training.

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▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **YANG** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Yang sighed as she watched her sleeping sister from below. Sunset's fading rays tickled the edges of Yang's vision as she thought about Ruby. It had been nearly a week since Ruby had been acting strangely after the forming of teams. Thankfully, Ruby stopped acting that way after the second day, but it was notable that she was still talking far less than normal. Also, Ruby now seemed to spend the majority of her free time being still and studying or training rather than bouncing up and down the walls - something that was highly unusual in the sister that Yang knew. While Ruby was always one of the tops of her classes, it was usually because she was a smart, naturally-talented girl to begin with and not necessarily because of a higher work ethic. While Yang was impressed that Ruby had taken a positive turn to her work, it also worried Yang in the sense that it probably meant that something had happened to Ruby. After all, it wasn't very likely that Ruby had come to the decision to start working harder on her own.

"_Stop being so negative,"_ Yang thought to herself. "_Maybe she's just beginning to mature more."_ The thought made Yang feel a little better, but her overall uneasiness remained because she knew, at least, that _something_ had caused Ruby to act that way on the first day of classes. And it wouldn't surprise Yang if the two occurrences were linked.

"_Weiss,"_ Yang thought to herself. Weiss had been quite distant from the rest of their team for the entire week. While she didn't seem as crabby as she had on that first day in Professor Port's class, there still seemed to be an uneasiness that lingered in the air whenever she was present.

Yang didn't like Weiss much. The girl seemed to have an unnatural dislike towards the rest of her team, and ever since the two had gotten in a fight on the first day that they met, their relationship only declined. Yang wasn't the only person that held contempt towards Weiss. Many of the other students had begun to realize that her breathtaking beauty was matched only by her poor, arrogant attitude. As a result, the heiress typically sat by herself during meals and free-times. "_It's really her fault."_ Yang thought again to herself. "_Oh well, I guess nothing really can be helped now. She doesn't really even seem to want to change."_

Yang was moved out of her thoughts by the sound of Ruby's soft snoring. She unconsciously rolled over in her sleep to face Yang. Seeing Ruby's face, Yang smiled. Ruby was a really cute sleeper. After watching for a few moments, Yang sighed. She loved her sister so much and wished more than anything to be able to help the problems that Ruby was going through.

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▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **WEISS** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Weiss rolled her eyes. It was nearly the end of Grimm Studies and half of her team still hadn't shown up. While she was still upset about not being placed as the leader of her team, her thoughts began to shift towards her current team not really being reliable to even begin with. Then again, how a team acted was heavily influenced by the team leader him or herself. To be honest, since her team was led by Ruby, Weiss didn't have very high expectations for the rest of her teammates. An army could be filled to the brim with brawny soldiers, but without a good commander, the army might as well have been comprised of nothing but ants.

Weiss aimlessly played with her hair as she waited for the lecture to be over. Like a lot of the material that had been covered in her classes over the week, most of the information being taught were things that she had already learned or knew. The only class that Weiss really looked forward to was Dueling, by Goodwitch, but that class only happened twice a week. The first class of dueling two days ago was mostly just talking about what the class was about and what was to be expected of the students. The real dueling would begin tomorrow.

"And that, class, was the story of how I was awarded with the Badge of Valor, thanks to my relentless determination and courage! That is all we can fit in today's lesson, class. Remember to cover your assigned readings, and… stay _vigilant_! Class dismissed!" Weiss breathed a sigh of relief and rose to leave the class. However, before taking a few steps, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Weiss turned. It was Blake, looking worried.

"Look," Blake said. "I know you usually go and do your own thing after classes are over, but Yang sent me a message from her scroll about an hour ago saying that something bad happened to Ruby. She hasn't responded to any of my messages since then, but since you're also a part of this team… I thought maybe you would want to go with me to go check up on her." Weiss sighed. Of course something bad would happen to Ruby.

"Might as well," Weiss said. "I have nothing else to do today." Blake nodded, and the two of them headed towards the infirmary.

* * *

After being notified by the nurse that Ruby had already checked out from the infirmary and was likely resting, Weiss and Blake began to head back towards their room. There was an uncomfortable silence as the two walked the lengths of the school. After a few minutes, Blake broke the silence, but while still staring straight ahead. "You know, I don't think Ruby really is as bad as you seem to think that she is. I know she's a little young to be here, but honestly, she's been working harder than anybody else that I've even seen here."

Weiss said nothing. More silence. They finally reached their room. Opening the door, they found Yang watching over a sleeping Ruby. "Yang, what happened?" Blake asked in a worried tone. Yang looked up.

"Oh crap!" Yang exclaimed, her face falling as her eyes landed on Blake. "Sorry for not replying to your messages, I got distracted."

"It's fine," Blake replied looking worried. "How is she?"

"Nothing serious. Just over-exhaustion from training too long that caused her to collapse onto the floor."

Weiss squinted and cocked her head to the side. Over-exhaustion from training? Had Ruby really been training _that _hard?

"What do you mean she collapsed from over-exhaustion?" Weiss asked Yang. Yang paused for a moment before answering. It was the first time that she had heard Weiss speak since the first day of school.

"Well I found her with her Crescent Rose on the floor of the IDPS about an hour ago. She was out since free-time after lunch. Something to do with dehydration too, I think?"

Weiss sat down on her bed. Could she have perhaps completely misjudged this dunce of a girl? Weiss hadn't stuck around Ruby for most of the week, but this wasn't at all what she imagined her to be doing in her free time. Maybe there was more to this girl than Weiss had first assumed. There was a soft _beep_ next to Weiss. Yang pulled out her scroll and checked it. "Oh, I've gotta go to the classes that Ruby and I missed to get the make-up work. I'll be back soon," She said. She put away her scroll and started to leave the room.

"Wait, I'll go with you," Blake said, standing up. "There's some extra credit work that I said that I would do for Professor Peach, and I might as well talk about it now." Yang nodded. The two left the room, leaving only Weiss and Ruby.

* * *

About ten minutes passed. Weiss remained sitting on her bed, thinking. Then she stood and looked at the sleeping Ruby. She looked so peaceful. Weiss sighed and decided to leave the room to step onto the rooftop. She liked that spot, and usually was able to think clearer when outside. Walking up the stairs, Weiss continued to think about Ruby. She recalled the words of Blake. _"Honestly, she's been working harder than anybody else that I've even seen here. I don't think Ruby really is as bad as you seem to think that she is."_

Weiss reached the door to the roof and opened it. Stepping outside, she gazed into the moon. She thought of how her past week at Beacon had been going. Weiss knew that it was her decision to remain separated from her team. To be alone. After all, that's what she preferred… Right? She thought of herself sitting by herself during meals. A sad sense of sorrow welled up inside of her chest. Weiss let it out with a sigh and slid down against the wall to a sitting position. Maybe shutting everybody out wasn't the right decision to make after all. Maybe her father was wrong. She thought back to when she was a little girl, and his words rang through her mind, "_Showing everybody your emotions is showing everybody how weak you are. Stop crying. Stop being so weak." _Weiss subconsciously rubbed her face as she remembered the pain of the slap that her father had dealt to her after that. Weiss looked up into the stars, tears starting to form in her eyes. She was tired of being called weak. She was tired of being alone.

* * *

"_I'm acting weak."_ Weiss thought to herself. She shut her eyes to clear her tears and stood up. She was about to leave when she heard the whistling of a flying blade. Instinctively, Weiss sidestepped. A small throwing dagger impaled itself in the wall inches away from where Weiss had been standing. A few strands of her hair floated about, having been sliced neatly away from her head. Instantly, Weiss was alert. Drawing Myrtenaster, she faced the enemy.

Four shadowy figures appeared around Weiss. Looking closer, Weiss could tell that they weren't normal people. Each had a pair of ears that stuck up from above their masks: Wolf faunas. The White Fang. Weiss knew that she constantly needed to be cautious because of her company's war with the White Fang and the target it presented on her head, but she didn't expect them to attack her while she was attending Beacon. In fact, one of the reasons why she even was sent to Beacon was for safety from the White Fang. Her dad had assumed that in the presence of such strong warriors, the White Fang would be too afraid to launch an attack on her there.

Weiss shook her head as she raised her rapier. "_I can do this on my own,"_ Weiss thought to herself. "_I've been training my entire life for moments like these."_ She selected the white dust cartridge. It was her strongest choice of all of the cartridges she kept in her Myrtenaster. Then, following her training, she lunged at the nearest enemy. Surprisingly, he was able to dodge her attack. He immediately followed up with a counter attack with his own sword, which Weiss parried away. She took a step back. Acting as a team, three of the members jumped towards her at once. The first one wielded a battle axe which Weiss knew she wouldn't be able to parry. Instead, she would have to rely on her agility to dodge such a strong attack. The second one held a dagger, one that Weiss realized matched the one that had been thrown at her previously. The third enemy was the one that Weiss had charged, wielding a plain, curved sword.

"Well lookie here," Said the faunus with the battle axe. "Looks like this pretty little thing knows how to handle herself in a fight." Weiss narrowed her eyes. Then, he dove her. Weiss managed to dodge both of his swings at her. From the corner of her eye, she saw the man with the dagger cock his arm backward, his dagger poised to throw. Weiss quickly formed a barrier from dust, which appeared just in time to block the incoming dagger of the second man, who cursed out loud.

The battle axe wielder swung at her again, which Weiss sidestepped only to find herself being attacked from the back from the enemy wielding the sword. He laughed and slashed at her, scratching her deeply from her right shoulder to the left side of her hip. Weiss grit her teeth and jumped to the side, away from the two enemies attacking her.

"Not bad missie, but you're forgetting one little problem," Weiss heard the axe wielder speak.

Suddenly, an extremely sharp, painful sensation engulfed Weiss's left shoulder. With a loud cry, she sank to her knees in pain, barely managing to keep her grip on Myrtenaster. Looking over, Weiss saw something protruding from her shoulder.

"_DAMNIT,"_ Weiss thought to herself. She had been so caught up in the fight with the three White Fang members that she neglected to pay attention to the fourth, who she now realized, wielded a crossbow. A stupid mistake that would now likely cost her the fight... and her life. She switched her rapier to her right hand. Though she had been trained to be able to use her weapon in both hands, Weiss knew that without her dominant hand, she wouldn't be able to take down all four members. Weiss attacked anyways.

Quickly rushing the member with the crossbow, her priority target, her path was blocked by the faunus wielding the axe, who appeared in front of her. "Not so fast, dollie." He said, grinning manically. She sliced at him, but the raw power of his weapon was enough to keep her from reaching him. Weiss was able to keep up with him, but she realized too late that she wouldn't be able to divert her attention to other enemies in her current state. Another crossbow bolt struck her in the thigh.

Weiss cried out once again, sinking to her knees. This was it. She could no longer fight. Weiss cursed the mistakes that she made. Myrtenaster fell to her side as tears of pain involuntarily blinded her sight. This was really it. Weiss closed her eyes as the wolf faunus raised his axe above her head.

* * *

Suddenly, a metallic sound and flash of red left a trail of rose petals floating across the roof. Weiss opened her eyes to find the faunus dead on the floor. Instead, standing above him was a figure clad in red that Weiss was unable to see through her tears. She blinked hard. It was… Ruby? But that was impossible.

"You're not alone, Weiss." Weiss heard Ruby say. "I'm right here for you." As she heard those words, Weiss began to cry again, except this time not because of pain. The emotional wall that Weiss had built up over the course of many years shattered as tears ran down her face.

"Ruby-" Weiss said. But Ruby was already moving to dispatch the man with the crossbow. He raised his weapon in defense, but Ruby wasn't there anymore. By the time he realized that Ruby was behind him, it was too late, and his body fell to the floor in two pieces. Ruby twirled her scythe. She turned to find the man with the daggers-now weaponless- jumping towards her. He managed to dodge her attacks from Crescent Rose and landed on top of her, pinning her to the floor.

"Kill the heiress!" He yelled out frantically to the remaining White Fang member. "We can't fail this mission!" Weiss turned to see the man with the sword running towards her. She tried getting up, but the pain in her leg kept her immobilized. Weiss cried out in frustration and desperation. She couldn't move. She could only watch helplessly as the sword neared closer and closer to her. Weiss closed her eyes as the sword was five feet from her.

There was the sound of a gunshot to her side, then the sound of something flashing in front of her. Then, the sound of metal piercing flesh. Weiss kept her eyes closed. "_Did he stab me?"_ Weiss wondered. "_I didn't feel anything… Maybe that's how death works._" Weiss opened her eyes. To her horror, she saw Ruby standing protectively in front of her, the end of a sword sticking out of her chest. Ruby looked up at Weiss, tears now also in her eyes. Ruby looked sadly into Weiss's eyes.

"Weiss..." Ruby stammered out. Tears poured down her face.

"RUBY, NO!" Weiss screamed. With a burst of wild energy, Weiss picked up her rapier and jumped forward, slamming her weapon down so hard that its hilt touched the man's throat. Surprised, he choked once and fell backward. Ruby fell with him. Weiss dashed forward and caught the young girl.

"Ruby, please, _STAY WITH ME!_" Weiss cried out, cradling the young girl between her arms. "SOMEBODY HELP ME!" She yelled as loud as she could. Weiss looked back at Ruby, who was attempting to speak but was unable to do so. "Ruby, I'm so sorry!" Weiss sobbed. "I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry…" Ruby's eyes fluttered, then closed. "Ruby, please!" Weiss cried out, fresh tears cascading down her cheeks. It was no use. The girl was still. Weiss buried her face into Ruby's chest and cried.

Shortly after, the door to the roof burst open. It was Yang.

"Weiss? I heard you yelling." Yang said. Then, seeing the bodies on the roof, she yelled "Oh my God, what happened?" She ran towards Weiss. Then she saw Ruby. "RUBY?!" Yang cried out. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!" She grabbed her from Weiss's arms.

"Please… Please save her…" Weiss sobbed. Her vision began to fail her. "My… It was my… fault. Save.. save.." Weiss managed to get out.

Then the world turned black and Weiss collapsed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

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**Thanks so much guys for all of the positive reviews that I've been getting :). Like I said, I'm going to try to pick up the pace of the chapter releases. Remember, if you have any questions or feedback, you can leave them in a review or PM me and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!**

* * *

**NOTE: ALL WORKS BESIDES THE STORY PAST THE INTRO BELONG TO MONTY OUM AND ROOSTER TEETH. I AM IN NO WAY ASSOCIATED WITH ROOSTER TEETH OR MONTY OUM, AND I GIVE NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL CONCEPTS AND IDEAS BEHIND THIS FANFIC.**

* * *

▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **WEISS** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Weiss watched helplessly as the man wielding the sword lunged towards Ruby's unprotected back. Weiss couldn't move, couldn't speak. Her body was frozen against her will, preventing her from screaming, calling out, doing _anything_. Weiss shut her eyes tightly and screamed inwardly as the sound of metal piercing flesh rang through her ears. Her eyes opened. Weiss covered her mouth with her hand as she stared into the sad, but dead eyes of Ruby Rose.

Weiss's eyes flew open as she gasped heavily for breath. She was surrounded by white walls and bright, white lights. There was a series of fast paced beeping noises off to her right, which Weiss quickly realized was a machine that was monitoring her fast-beating heart. She was in the infirmary. Weiss shut her eyes tightly. "_It was just a dream,_" she told herself, mentally instructing herself to calm down.

"_But what happened to Ruby?"_ Weiss asked herself, eyes shooting open and panic setting in once again. She began to sit up, but immediately felt a dull, burning pain in her thigh, causing her to cry out.

"Take it easy, Weiss," came Blake's voice from her side. Weiss turned to see Blake sitting next to her holding a book. "You took a bad injury to your leg as well as a shattered shoulder bone from the crossbow bolts." Weiss instinctively flexed her left arm. The same burning pain instantly set in, causing her to wince.

"I.. But… but where's Ruby?" Weiss said. "I was attacked… and she tried protecting me and… she was stabbed… and, and.. I couldn't-"

"Relax Weiss, Ruby is alive." Blake said. Weiss's eyes went wide. "She's currently still in intensive care, but from what I've heard, she seems to be quite stable. Apparently the blade was about two inches away from hitting her heart, and managed to pass through her chest without puncturing any vital organs." Weiss was relieved, but a strong sense of guilt welled up in her chest.

"Blake, it was my fault," Weiss said, her voice cracking. "I wasn't strong enough to-"

"No, it wasn't your fault. It was the White Fang's fault." A dark look crossed Blake's face. "If they hadn't attacked you, then nobody would have gotten hurt in the first place." Though it was true, it didn't make Weiss feel any better. Ruby had nearly sacrificed her life just to keep her safe. Ruby had almost died protecting her. Protecting _her,_ the girl who had been a bitch towards Ruby the entire week that she had known her. The girl who had done nothing but berate and insult her for little things that didn't really even matter. Weiss put her head into her hands. Pain attacked her shoulder as she shifted her arm, but Weiss ignored it.

Weiss's eyes began to water. Flashbacks of the harsh words that Weiss had used against Ruby ran through her mind like a river. She visibly winced as she recalled some of the more intense verbal attacks she had used. All she had done towards Ruby had caused nothing but pain towards the girl, but her malice had only been returned by selflessness. Inwardly, while Weiss was grateful, she was baffled at the existence of such behavior. It was then that Weiss realized just what Ozpin had seen in Ruby that had made him appoint her as a leader. Honestly, Ruby would make a better leader than Weiss could ever hope to be.

"Blake… Do you think that she'll forgive me for… well acting the way that I did?" Weiss said, her head still in her hands.

"The girl was willing to take a sword for you," Blake replied. "I'm sure that she's more than willing to reconcile any mistakes the two of you have made in the past." Weiss closed her eyes and laid back into her pillow. She stared at the ceiling for a little bit, thinking about everything. Weiss thought about Blake. While their first ever confrontation started off sour, it actually greatly impressed Weiss how loyal Blake was to her team. Weiss knew that the relationship between the two of them was rocky to say the least, yet here she was, staying and watching over her to make sure that she was fine.

"Blake…" Weiss said, sighing, causing Blake to look up from her book. Weiss continued. "I… Well, I know that I haven't... exactly been… much of a teammate this past week." Weiss swallowed, then took a breath. She hated doing stuff like this. "..I'm… Sorry… for acting like a child towards Ruby… well towards everyone." Weiss said, closing her eyes. "What happened back in the attack made me realize that… this whole time, it wasn't my team that was the problem. It was _me._ I was the one that was acting out of line, and it was stupid of me to blame all of my problems on you guys." Weiss paused for a moment, looking down. The she looked back up at Blake. Blake closed her eyes and sighed.

"To be honest, I wasn't as kind as I could have been on the first day that I met you either." Blake replied. She hesitated for a moment, but then continued, "But let's forget about that. It's never too late to forge new friendships."

_Friendship_. The word sounded foreign to Weiss. In all of the seventeen years that Weiss had lived for, she had not a single person that she could have ever called a _friend_. The closest things that she could have called friends were the walls of the manor that her parents had kept her inside of for her entire life. "_You don't need friends,"_ Her father had told her as a child when she had asked why she had none. "_Friendships are unnecessary to success. They make you lose focus of your true goals."_

"_But what if your true goal in life is to be happy?"_ Weiss had remembered thinking, Of course she hadn't said that out loud, but it had kept her in a state of wonder for much of her childhood.

Weiss looked back to Blake, who was back to reading her book. Weiss smiled. Friendship… She liked the sound of the word.

* * *

Four days had passed since Weiss had woken up. In those four days, Weiss had begun to develop her friendship with Blake, who was there in Weiss's room during many of her free-times and when classes were over. Blake claimed that she was only there because Yang was at Ruby's side 24/7, making their dorm room empty and lonely, but Weiss didn't really believe that. She discovered that Blake, despite her quiet exterior, was a great person to talk to. Her words often held wisdom, and when she wasn't being serious, her quick thinking and wittiness made their conversations very enjoyable.

There was the occasional visit from team JNPR, with Pyrrha wishing her a fast recovery and Jaune making clumsy attempts to hit on her (which as you may have guessed, were typically turned down as quickly as they had started).

Weiss felt like a new person. She had previously been so blind to the potential friendships and companionships that were constantly around her. She was beginning to truly doubt the effectiveness of the things that her father had taught her all of her life.

* * *

▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **YANG**▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Yang knew that she was starting to fall behind in her schoolwork because of her gradually declining ability to pay attention during class. She couldn't help it. She couldn't sleep at night because she was so worried about Ruby. Yang knew that from what the doctors had told her, Ruby's vitals had stabilized and she was likely to be fine and back to her normal self once she woke up, but what if she wasn't? What if she lost a basic function like speaking, or she was paralyzed from waist up, or what if she couldn't remember anything at all? What if… What if she lost her ability to think? What if she ended up like a vegetable for the rest of her life?

"_Stop it,"_ Yang told herself, shutting her bloodshot eyes. She knew that her imagination was getting the better of her. "_Ruby is going to be fine and you're going to feel stupid about thinking these thoughts once she wakes up and none of it is true."_ Yang opened her eyes and let her gaze fall to the still form of her sister. Anger began to build up within herself. How could she have let this happen to her baby sister? Yang recalled the words of dad. "_Yang, make sure you look out for your sister. Life is a very fragile thing indeed."_

"_Don't worry dad, we'll be fine, I promise!" _Yang had replied back to him cheerily. "_You know that I would never let anything happen to Rubes. Not under my watch."_ Yet here Ruby was, lying in the hospital recovering from a large, gaping hole that was in the middle of her chest. Yang had broken her promise. She had failed to protect her sister. What right did she even have to call herself a good sister to Ruby? _WHRR-CLICK-CH-CHINK._ Yang looked down and realized that she had unconsciously activated her Ember Celicas because of her agitated state of mind.

From what she had been told, the attack had been executed by members of the White Fang, but not too much information was known about the attack itself yet. Before the attack, Yang held no real opinion of the infamous organization, but darker thoughts now started to cloud her mind about them. According to Blake, apparently the group had been sent to kill Weiss. Ruby had received her stab wound while protecting her. Yang sighed, still frustrated. Why her? Of all of the people that Ruby could have chosen to throw her life out for, it just had to be that one. She had been nothing short of a jerk towards her sister from the very first day. Weiss didn't deserve somebody throwing out their life for her sake. Especially not somebody like Ruby.

"Yang?" Came a voice near Yang. Her eyes shot upward. It was Ruby. _She was awake_.

"Oh my god, Ruby!" Yang cried out. "You're awake!" She nearly jumped up to hug her sister, but then remembered that Ruby was injured. "Ruby, can you talk normally? Can you move every part of your body? Do you remember who I am? Please Please Pleeeease, don't be a vegetable."

Ruby looked at her sister strangely. "Yang… What are you talking about?"

"Umm, nothing." Yang said, feeling sheepish. "Err, so how are you feeling Rubes?" She quickly asked, changing the subject.

"Not exactly the greatest, sis," Ruby said. "I don't really remember that much of what happened to be honest," Ruby said. "Why are your Ember Celicas out, Yang?"

Yang look down and realized that she had not deactivated them from before. Quickly deactivating them, she answered, "Oh, no reason. Well what _do_ you remember from what happened?"

"Umm," Ruby replied. She shook her head. "Well I remember hearing the sound of Weiss crying out… Then a group of people attacking her. And… something about a sword?" Ruby lifted her blanket and looked down at her chest. "Yeah… definitely remember the sword."

"But why, Ruby? Why did you risk your life to protect… Weiss, of all people?" Yang asked her sister, her voice shifting to a more serious tone.

"What do you mean? Yang, she's a part of our team. Not only is it my duty as a teammate to help out my other teammates, it's also my duty as a _leader_. And… well… as a friend." Ruby replied, looking bewildered.

"Come on Ruby, you and I both know that she's been nothing but trouble towards you since day one," Yang said, doubtfully.

"Well _maybe_ I was trying to change that!" Ruby snapped back angrily, surprising Yang. "You told me yourself to make new friends, and Dad says that friendships sometimes need to be created by actions, not just words."

"The girl is hardly friendship material! You honestly could do so much be-"

"_Yang_! That's _not fair_! Who are _you_ to determine the value of a person?"

"That's not what I mea-"

"You couldn't possibly know what has happened in Weiss's life to make her that way. What if _her _mom died too?" Tears began to fill Ruby's eyes. Yang was shocked; Ruby's mother was typically a subject that the pair made an effort not to talk about. However, Yang knew what Ruby meant. When Ruby's mother had died, Ruby had changed, and not for the better. She became a lot quieter and drawn into herself. She also started to easily get angry at people for little to no reason, and if it hadn't been for the encouraging words of Dad, she likely would have never left the phase.

Yang sighed heavily and closed her eyes. Why did her baby sister have to see the good in everybody? Why was she so unaffected by the bad? Small, sniffling sounds from Ruby reminded Yang that she was now crying.

"Look Ruby, I'm sorry. You _know_ that I love you. I just don't want you to see you get hurt again, physically _or_ mentally by Weiss. Just promise if anything bad ever happens between the two of you, that you'll come to me first."

There was a slight pause. "Okay Yang," Ruby said, still holding back tears. "I…promise." A few minutes passed of Ruby silently crying. Then, her crying began to get worse. "Yang," Ruby called out in a broken voice. "I miss mom so much." She had stopped trying to hold her tears in and they were now falling freely down her face. "Why did she leave me here, alone?"

Yang instantly got up and grabbed both of Ruby's hands. "Ruby, I promise," Yang said, starting to feel tears herself. "Your mom didn't leave you on purpose. What happened was an _accident_. And I promise more than _anything_, you will _never_ be alone with me around."

"What if-" _sniffle_, "What if I lose you too Yang? I don't want to lose you… I don't… want…" Ruby stopped talking. Yang looked up, barely holding in her tears. Ruby had passed out. The conversation had taken too much effort from her.

"_GOD, I'M SO STUPID!"_ Yang thought to herself angrily as she stared at Ruby's heavily breathing form. Water trickled down her face. She hastily scrubbed it away with her hand. She felt like punching something. All Ruby had wanted was a friend. Why was she denying her sister such a simple right? Yang sat down and put pressure on the bridge of her nose with her right hand. "_Just breathe_," she told herself.

* * *

▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **WEISS** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Weiss was finally discharged from the infirmary. Though her arm was still in a sling, her leg had healed enough for her to begin walking on with a crutch. Good thing that she had sustained the injury in right leg, or else she would have likely been confined to a wheelchair since she wouldn't have been able to use the crutch. Weiss was allowed to come back to class, but she was having trouble focusing. Ruby constantly filled her thoughts much like the guilt that filled her chest. She wanted to go visit Ruby, but was unsure of how Yang would react to her in a direct confrontation. Already in class, it seemed that Yang was avoiding her, and every so often, she would be shot a dirty look from the blonde.

During lunchtime, Weiss approached Blake. Yang took her lunches to Ruby's room, so it was just the two of them. Sitting down next to her friend, she asked, "Hey umm Blake? Do you think you could… umm… do me a favor?"

Blake raised an eyebrow. "Now what could I possibly owe the honor to of doing her highness a favor?" She asked with a playful smile. Somehow, Weiss had gained the nickname "ice princess" from among the students. She had no idea how that name had even formed, but Blake enjoyed teasing her annoyance with the name.

"Shut up, dolt." Weiss said, turning red. "I need you to help me to talk with Ruby."

"Well, what seems to be the problem?" Blake asked, swallowing her bite of tuna. "She's free to talk to in her infirmary room at any time, given she's awake."

"The _problem_ is a certain yellow haired sister that I'm quite sure is intent on caving my face in sooner or later," Weiss replied irritably. "While I do desire to talk to Ruby about what happened, I would rather not risk my life in order to do so."

That was a lie. Honestly, Weiss would have risked everything for the chance to talk to Ruby. The guilt building up inside of her was making her lose concentration of simple, everyday tasks.

"I'll see what I can do, snow angel," Blake replied, this time teasing her with the name that the idiot Jaune had called her on the day of initiation.

Weiss rolled her eyes but muttered a quick "thank you."

* * *

It was finally time. Blake had drawn Yang away to 'study', leaving Ruby alone in her room for at least an hour. Weiss sighed as she neared Ruby's room. She stopped and breathed. What if Ruby didn't accept her apology? Would she have to live like this for the rest of her life? Weiss shook her head clear of those thoughts. Hypothesizing about future events like those was impractical. Instead, Weiss straightened her posture and walked slowly into Ruby's room.

She was instantly attacked by the smell of cookies. It was clear that despite her injury, Ruby continued to maintain her consistent and unhealthy diet of cookies. Weiss rolled her eyes as the smell reached her nose. She looked down. Ruby was asleep. Well, this was out of the plan. Weiss only had an hour to talk to Ruby, yet she didn't want to wake her up from her sleep. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she thought about what to do. After waiting for about two minutes awkwardly, Weiss turned around and began to walk out the door.

"Weiss?" Came a dry voice from the bed. Weiss froze in her tracks. She turned around.

"…Ruby." Weiss said. She took a deep breath.

"You smell nice Weiss." Ruby said, eyes closed. What? Weiss's train of thought was broken. The comment surprised her so much that she forgot everything she had spent an hour planning out.

"That… is incredibly creepy, Ruby." Weiss said. However, Ruby only grinned. Weiss turned red, but she smiled and rolled her eyes. There was a short silence. Weiss took a deep breath and walked up next to Ruby.

"Ruby… I want to let you know that I'm sorry. About what happened during the attack. About how I've… been acting towards you in general." Weiss took another breath, about to continue. However, she was interrupted by Ruby.

"Nope." Weiss looked up, startled.

"Excuse me?" She asked.

"Nope."

This wasn't turning out to be good at all. Weiss was quiet, and for the first time in her life, at a loss for words. She looked away, embarrassed.

"You're my friend, Weiss. You don't need to apologize for me." Weiss's head snapped back up.

"…What…?" Weiss asked in disbelief, unsure if her hearing was correct.

"I said, you're my friend and my teammate. I know that we all make mistakes… I don't expect you to need to apologize to me Weiss."

Weiss had heard Ruby twice, yet she wasn't sure if her hearing was accurate. A friend…? Weiss hadn't been anything close to a friend towards Ruby. She wasn't even really sure if she could have called herself Ruby's _teammate_, let alone her _friend._

"Umm… Weiss?" Ruby asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"I'm sorry." Weiss replied hastily. "I… Ruby… Do you really consider me your… friend?"

"Of course I do, Weiss." Ruby said, smiling. "After all, you were the first person that I met at beacon." Ruby giggling without sound. Weiss turned red. That encounter was not one of the finest points of Weiss's life.

"But… the way that I treated you before… yet you still consider me…-"

"Don't sweat it Weiss," Ruby said, smiling. "If you truly are sorry about the way you acted towards me, then that makes me really happy. Just know that even if you continued to act that way towards me, I would have still thought of you as my friend."

Weiss felt like a fool. Never had she ever once been the type of person to trip over her own words, but the moment was so strong for Weiss that she was surprised that she could talk at all. "Ruby…" Weiss said, her eyes watering. They seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "I'm so sorry. I… I… I'm just so sorry Ruby," Weiss said again, unable to halt the waterfall any longer. She put her face into her hand and began to sob. She had never experienced such… unconditional kindness from anybody in her life.

Weiss felt Ruby's warm embrace but didn't realize what it actually was until about a second later. "_So this is how a hug feels like,_" Weiss thought to herself. She liked the feeling. Not only did it feel warm on the outside, it gave off a warmth inside of her that made her feel like she mattered.

"Thank you Ruby," Weiss whispered, mostly to herself, not exactly even sure if Ruby had heard it.

* * *

Ruby had.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

* * *

**Sorrrryyyyyy about the time it took for this chapter to get out. Lotta stuff happening with me IRL. Also, a lot of planning still clashing with current material I wrote, so naturally that lead to me in a very long cycle of writing and deleting stuff that I wrote. Greater things are yet to come :)**

**P.S. I love my girlfriend.**

* * *

**NOTE: ALL WORKS BESIDES THE STORY PAST THE INTRO BELONG TO MONTY OUM AND ROOSTER TEETH. I AM IN NO WAY ASSOCIATED WITH ROOSTER TEETH OR MONTY OUM, AND I GIVE NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL CONCEPTS AND IDEAS BEHIND THIS FANFIC.**

* * *

▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **RUBY** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

"For the hundredth time Ruby, please settle down!" The nurse exclaimed exasperatedly. The little red ball of energy was difficult to keep under control, and quite frankly, nothing that the nurse had ever experienced before. The girl had taken a deep sword wound through her chest, yet during the walks that she was required to take to prevent her lungs from collapsing, she insisted on running and jumping around like an excited child. Ruby looked back towards the nurse and grinned. "Sorry, it's just that I'm sooooooooo bored while I'm chained up in my bed." The nurse rolled her eyes. They didn't actually chain up any of their patients. Ruby continued. "These walks kinda have to make up for them. Can't be a huntress that does nothing, right?"

Through the attack, Ruby discovered that she had an exceptionally strong aura. While it would have taken a normal person at least a month to recover from the injuries that she had received, Ruby had recovered in an astonishing two weeks. However, those two weeks had been the worst two weeks of her life. Not necessarily because she was in any real pain, but because she was forced to do something that she hated: Sitting still.

On the bright side, she was going to be discharged from the infirmary the next morning. Ruby sighed in content and closed her eyes as she realized that it meant she was going to sleep in her own bed for the first time in the two weeks. As the sun began to set behind the horizon, she thought about what she probably had missed from her classes. Yang and Blake walked into the room.

"Heya Rubes! Excited for tomorrow?" Yang said, hugging her softly (a rare type of hug, to say the least).

"Of course I am Yang," Ruby said, grinning. "I've spent more time in this infirmary than I have anywhere else on these school grounds." Ruby turned towards Blake and looked at her. The black haired girl looked back at her. Silence. Finally, Blake rolled her eyes and with a smile, pulled out a small box and handed it to Ruby.

"Yay, you did it!" Ruby said, tearing the lid off. The cookies that were in the bag were vanquished within seconds.

"I still don't understand how she eats those things so fast," Blake said to Yang. "You'd think her semblance would be cookie eating." Yang laughed.

"Yurh oh, rhey reayy neeh ooh ah hoohies hoo heir ishert meyu," Ruby said.

"Ruby, swallow your food." Yang said. It was a normal thing. Ruby swallowed, then spoke.

"Nghhmleh, Sorry. I _saaiid_, you know, they really need to add cookies to their dessert menu. I mean, can it really even be called a _dessert menu_ with no cookies?"

"We know Ruby," Blake replied. "You've been complaining to _everybody_ about it for the past two weeks."

Their small talk continued for a few more minutes. Looking amongst her teammates, Ruby wondered where Weiss was. Since her… visit, Ruby hadn't seen Weiss for the entire two weeks afterwards. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought that Weiss was avoiding her.

* * *

▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **WEISS** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Weiss admitted it; she was avoiding Ruby. While the pair's past history seemed to be settled, Weiss was the type of person that prided herself in her ability to maintain her stoic cool during even the most intense of situations. However, despite all of the times that she had bravely held in her emotions from the world around herself, Ruby's words had taken her by surprise. They shed light on a new philosophy that had strongly moved her. Forgiveness? It was hardly anything that Weiss had ever come close to experiencing. In her world, all actions yielded consequences. Forgiveness was not an alternative to punishment. Lessons had to be learned.

Despite being shown such absolution from the young girl, Weiss felt… uncomfortable. Not exactly because of Ruby herself, but because of the outlet of emotions that surged up within her chest whenever the Ruby entered her mind. It made her feel very… vulnerable. Unknownst to Ruby, Weiss _had_ actually visited her while she was asleep a few days after her breakdown. Just watching her made a strange feeling rush up Weiss's head—a strong sort of tingle that she seemed to physically be able to hear. Truthfully, Weiss didn't know how to handle her mixed feelings about Ruby.

Weiss shook her head as she heard a sound near her. Weiss turned to look at the boy that had sat down next to her at her empty cafeteria table. He had a very large frame, and he was nearly two heads taller than her. However it was his orange hair that made Weiss instantly recognize the jerk: Cardin Winchester.

"Why hello there," Cardin said, leaning back and propping his arms over his head. He smelled strongly of cheap cologne. "I couldn't help but notice how lonely you looked. Tell you what, I'll help you out with that tonight. Just you and me, we'll find a nice quiet place to eat this stupid cafeteria food."

Weiss made a face. Cardin Winchester had the looks, but he was nothing but a child. He used his above average build into bullying the rest of the students into submission. Even worse, he honestly expected others to believe him to be superior to them. Even that _Jaune_ boy had a higher chance of going on a date with her. A hundred different remarks that she could have thrown at Cardin ran through Weiss's head, but she kept her composure and remained as polite as she could.

"No thank you." She said, matter-of-factly. "I think I'll keep my options open for now."

Cardin's face turned dark. Then he scoffed and got up. Weiss heard him mutter to his friends "Yeah they're right. She's a total bitch." They laughed and began to walk away. Weiss looked down, a slight expression of defeat displayed on her beautiful face. What was happening to her? Two weeks ago, a comment like that would have just made her laugh. She was used to the scorn. Something had changed within her.

"Hey, that's not how you're supposed to treat a girl," a voice called out. When Weiss turned, she was even more surprised than Cardin when realizing who the voice belonged to. It was Jaune, looking angry. "Didn't your mother ever teach you—"Jaune paused as Cardin began to tower over him.

"Teach me what, dirtbag?" Cardin leered at Jaune. Jaune chuckled awkwardly and began to back away. Then he caught a glimpse of Weiss's eyes. What he saw took him by surprise. Instead of the cold, accusatory glare that often was present in the way she looked at him, it was replaced with melancholy. With emptiness. With misery. Weiss quickly looked away, realizing that she had exposed weakness. Then she hastily stood up and left. Jaune watched her leave.

"Aww, looks like your little girlfriend there left you all alone." Cardin said, laughing. He pushed Jaune to the floor and left, still laughing.

Jaune was confused. "_What was that?" _he thought to himself as he got up. Then he shrugged and headed towards his dorm. Maybe Pyrrha could explain to him the way that girls acted.

* * *

▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **RUBY** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

"I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!" Ruby called out loudly to nobody in particular, entering her room with Yang and Blake. "Man, this place hasn't changed at all!"

"Ruby, you've only been away for like two and a half weeks." Yang said. She turned to Ruby. "Besides—What the?" A flash of red and Ruby was gone. Yang looked around. She heard a squealing sound above her. Looking upwards, she found Ruby on top of her bed, squeezing her corgi pillow.

"Ohhh, I've missed you so much!" Ruby said, hugging it fiercely. Blake and Yang exchanged looks, smiling. Ruby's presence was like the electrical outlet that the room needed to stay energized.

Ruby looked down at Weiss's empty bed. "_Still no Weiss," _Ruby thought to herself. "_Dinner's already over… Why isn't she here? Did I… do something wrong?"_ Ruby looked around again. Yang had gone into the bathroom, getting ready to go to bed. Blake was reading a book, waiting for Yang to come out of the bathroom.

"Heya Blake… I think I left something in the library. I'm going to... um… go look for it." Ruby said. Blake raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything as Ruby slipped out the door. Blake stared at the door for a bit. They had gone to the library to pick up some books for the classes that Ruby had missed, but as far as Blake could remember, Ruby hadn't brought anything to the library. She shrugged and went back to her book. She was a few words in when Yang burst from the bathroom.

"Aaalllllllllllllllright!" Yang exclaimed. "I'm done Blakey. You can use—wait, where's Ruby?" Blake looked up.

"She left something in the infirmary," Blake replied, thinking of a better cover. "I'm sure she'll be back soon."

Knowing Yang, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to tell her the truth. Blake could clearly see the dissonance between her and Weiss. She only hoped that Ruby would find her and return fast enough not to arise too much suspicion.

"In her pajamas?" Yang asked, skeptically. Then she smiled. "I think I'm rubbing off on her a little too much."

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▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **WEISS** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Weiss heard the door open. She sighed. The reason why she even came up to the roof was to be alone. Hastily wiping her eyes, she looked up to see who it was.

"Ruby?" Weiss asked, shocked. "What are you…? How did you know I was up here?"

"Well you weren't in the room, and I didn't see you when we went to the library," Ruby replied. "During the attack, I doubt that the bad guys drew you up to here by themselves, so I figured that you got here before they arrived."

Weiss sighed again. The girl that was standing over her was more observant than Weiss had first thought.

"Weiss… What's wrong?" Ruby asked, looking concerned.

"Nothing is wrong," Weiss replied back airily.

"Is that why you were crying?" Ruby answered calmly. Weiss cursed inwardly that she had noticed. Weiss looked at the ground, saying nothing. "Does it have something to do with me?" Ruby asked.

"No," Weiss lied. "It has nothing to do with you Ruby."

Ruby slid down the wall next to her. "Well, talk to me then. I'm here for you, aren't I?" Another rush of emotions hit Weiss, bringing about another tingle attack.

"It's… really not that serious. I guess I'm sort of struggling to adapt to living such a… public life." Weiss said.

"What do you mean by that?" Ruby asked.

Weiss bit her lip. "I was homeschooled for my entire life before applying for Beacon. I guess the amount of people around me at all times is a little bit more… overwhelming than I expected it to be."

"What, are people giving you a hard time or something? Because Yang could totally beat the crap out of—"

"No, it's not that," Weiss said. She found it ironic that Ruby had mentioned Yang as the person who would protect her from people that didn't like her. Weiss took a deep breath in through her nose. She closed her eyes as she exhaled. "Ruby… I've never had any friends before." There. She said it.

"Well that's not a problem!" Ruby replied back cheerily. "Jaune says that strangers are just friends that you haven't met yet. I'm sure you'll have no problem making new friends here." Ruby didn't really get what Weiss was trying to tell her, but Weiss couldn't help but smile at the younger girl's enthusiasm. Ruby continued. "My mom used to say that it's never too late to forge new friendships."

That was the same thing that Blake had told her. "I've heard that before," Weiss said.

"Yeah, my… umm… mom used to say stuff like that all the time. She—was the really encouraging type of person.." Ruby replied, a little quieter than before.

"Well your mother sounds like a lovely person," Weiss said, smiling. Ruby mumbled something back softly. "What was that?" Weiss asked.

"Was," Ruby said, softly. Weiss tilted her head. "She _was_… a lovely person." Weiss was confused for a moment more. Then realization of Ruby's words dawned on her. Weiss's mouth clamped shut. "I guess you only realize how much you miss somebody when they're gone."

"I'm sorry Ruby," Weiss said. "I didn't know."

Ruby's voice shifted. "How could you have known?" Ruby replied back bitterly. "Nobody ever knows. Nobody even cares. She… she died, and—and the world just continues the way it was, forgetting everything that she did for it." Her voice cracked at the last line. It was clear that the young girl was fighting tears. This was clearly a very sensitive topic to her. Weiss had never imagined that this tone could exist in Ruby, yet here she was. "She left me Weiss. She was the one I needed… and she left me."

The normally over-jubilant girl shut her eyes, still clearly fighting the tears. Weiss didn't like it at all. Soft, sniffles made themselves clear in the quiet air of the warm night. Weiss felt her own sadness build up within her chest. The sight of Ruby in this state made Weiss want to tear up herself. The first droplet of water slowly rolled down Ruby's cheek.

Then Weiss did something that surprised herself. She leaned over and hugged Ruby tightly, placing the younger girl's head on her shoulder. Ruby didn't protest. It was Ruby's turn to quietly whimper into the other girl's shoulder. "Shh… shhh shhh…" Weiss murmured silently to the mewing younger girl. "It'll be okay. You're okay Ruby."

* * *

▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **RUBY** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Ruby stayed in Weiss's arms for a few more minutes, her silent sobs gradually dying down. She hated when other people saw her crying, yet… it felt different when she was with Weiss. It would be a lie to say that Yang's hugs weren't comforting, but something about Weiss's embrace made Ruby feel more at ease. Plus, she really liked the way that Weiss smelled. It was hard to describe in words the scent that Weiss had—it was pleasant; refreshing, like taking a cold shower. If Ruby had to describe it, she would have said it was like capturing the cold, sweet moment of eating a peppermint, but without the spicy flavor that attacked the tongue.

Ruby smiled and said into Weiss's shoulder, "You smell really nice Weiss." Weiss turned red, but breathed an audible sigh of relief.

"Dunce," she said. Ruby smiled and let her head remain rested on the older girl's shoulder. They remained in the position for a while. Ruby began to feel tired, as she often did after crying. She let herself start to drift off on Weiss's shoulder, but was noticed by Weiss and was shaken back into wakefulness.

"You can sleep in your room Ruby. Let's get back before Yang starts beating somebody up about you, okay?" Weiss said softly. Ruby nodded sleepily. Weiss stood up and pulled her to her feet. With Ruby's head still resting on Weiss's shoulder, the pair began to make their way back to the room.

* * *

▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **WEISS** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Weiss fumbled for the door key, slightly hindered by the weight of the younger girl on her arm. "_What a troublesome girl,"_ Weiss thought to herself lightheartedly. She found the card and quietly unlocked the door. Thankfully, Blake and Yang were already in bed. Yang might have given her a hard time if she walked in with a dead-looking Ruby on her shoulder. Speaking of a dead-looking Ruby, Weiss realized she had no idea how she was going to get Ruby into her bunk. The girl was practically already snoring while still standing. Weiss sighed as she lowered the younger girl into her own bed. Thankfully, she had already changed. Things would have been a little spicier—err, more complicated if she hadn't.

Weiss returned from the restroom and looked at the girl who was now completely passed out on her bed, hugging Weiss's other pillow tightly to her chest. Weiss smiled as she thought of how much Ruby had changed her in the little time that they had known each other. "_I guess all it takes is a more innocent soul to create a new, unblemished perspective of life."_ She thought to herself. Then she climbed into Ruby's bed and fell asleep to Ruby's own sweet aroma of roses and cookies.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

* * *

**This chapter is shorter than my regular chapters, just to make up for some lost time. Also, just to clear a few things up, there's a bathroom in every dorm room in this fanfic. That didn't really seem like it was addressed in the actual show, so I just threw it in there because it made sense. Well at least to me. Lol.**

* * *

**NOTE: ALL WORKS BESIDES THE STORY PAST THE INTRO BELONG TO MONTY OUM AND ROOSTER TEETH. I AM IN NO WAY ASSOCIATED WITH ROOSTER TEETH OR MONTY OUM, AND I GIVE NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL CONCEPTS AND IDEAS BEHIND THIS FANFIC.**

* * *

▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **RUBY** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

As the birds outside began to make their morningly territorial chirpings, Ruby slowly drifted into consciousness. Her eyes felt strangely heavy, so she let them remain closed. _"What time is it?"_ she thought to herself as she stretched and yawned. Suddenly, Ruby froze. Something was off. The bed sheet felt that she was lying on felt silkier than normal—satin? Ruby forced her eyes open, wincing at the pain of the abnormal amount of sleep pulling on her eyelids. It was still dark outside; the sun had just begun to rise. As Ruby's eyes adjusted to the lighting, she slowly began to make out a frighteningly large object dangling a few meters above where she was laying.

Ruby squinted and whispered out loud, "_what_." She turned to her left and only realized that she was on the bottom bed when she saw Blake lying parallel to her. She smiled for a moment. Then reality struck her.

"_THIS IS WEISS'S BED!"_ Ruby thought to herself, nearly shooting up. "_How did I get here?"_ Ruby took a breath and remained in a prone position as she recalled the events of the previous night.

"I really gave myself away last night, didn't I?" Ruby said out loud. She sat up. Then, Ruby turned around and looked at Weiss's white pillow that she had been sleeping on. Ruby grinned, scheming to herself. After all, if Ruby was in the bottom bed, Weiss was still probably asleep on the bed above her.

* * *

▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **WEISS** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Weiss smiled and stretched as she turned the shower knob to the left, stopping the flow of warm water that cascaded down her body. She loved taking early morning showers. They helped her wake up and start off the day with a clear mind. Sighing in content as she reached for her towel to dry herself off, she realized that she was beginning to feel more comfortable around her team—well at least around most of her team. It wasn't necessarily what Weiss had imagined when she was finally given permission to leave her manor, but she liked the way that things were falling into play. Yang was still a touchy subject, but at the very least, she was definitely becoming more comfortable around Ruby.

Weiss wrapped herself in her towel and opened the door to the room. The first thing she saw was Ruby… with her face stuffed inside of her pillow. Weiss stood there with her mouth slightly ajar, an accusatory, confused look plastered on her face.

"Ruby…? What is it exactly that you're doing to my pillow?" Weiss asked.

"WEISS!" Ruby yelled, flinching backwards so hard that she nearly hit her head on the bed above her.

"I-I. Uhhmmm, well you see… I—well umm… I woke up and… Your bed was in my face—well not your bed was in my face, but my face… well was in your bed… I MEAN, I woke up, and your bed was here, and I was ON your bed… and-"

"Ruby, you're not making any sense, you dolt!" Weiss said, rolling her eyes.

"I-WANTED-TO-SMELL-YOUR-PILLOW!" Ruby said quickly, planting her face back in Weiss's sheets in embarrassment.

Weiss blinked. Then she burst out laughing. Something about Ruby just made her feel relaxed, no matter what strange situation that she seemed to end up in. Ruby looked up. "Weiss…?" She asked.

"Get out of my bed, dunce," Weiss replied, smiling and walking towards her dresser. She squatted and began to pick out her clothes for the day. Then she turned and gave a look at the still sitting Ruby.

"R-right!" Ruby exclaimed, jumping out of Weiss's bed and walking hurriedly towards the bathroom. Weiss could hear the soft but audible groan of embarrassment from Ruby as she quickly shut the bathroom door. Weiss smiled to herself again and thought, _"What a troublesome girl."_

"What was that all about?" Came Blake's sleepy voice from across the room. Weiss looked backwards at Blake, who was sitting up from her bed groggily.

"Oh, nothing really," Weiss said coolly, turning back towards the dresser.

"You two seem to be getting along better," Blake said, smiling.

Weiss stood up, her day's attire neatly clutched in her hand. "I guess we are," she replied, her back still facing Blake. She remained in that position for a few seconds. "Umm, do you mind?" Weiss asked. "I didn't really expect anybody to be awake for this… soooooooo…" She said impatiently.

"Oh, sorry," Blake said, turning away as Weiss began to get dressed.

"So, mind sharing what happened last night?" Blake asked, a hint of playfulness in her voice. "I'm sure that the younger girl waking up in your bed was no accident."

Weiss turned red. "Oh stop it, you," she said. "It was nothing of the sort. She was just really tired when we returned to the room last night and I let her sleep in my bed because it was the lower one."

"Is that it?" Blake asked, the amusement still very evident in her voice.

"Yes!" Weiss exclaimed exasperatedly. "Nothing more."

"Well okay then," Blake said. "If that was it. I'll make sure not to mention anything to snoring beauty up here." Weiss could tell that Blake was smiling. She rolled her eyes. Right on cue, Yang let out a loud sound that signified her heavy sleep. Not everybody was a morning person.

"_But if that was it… why are my palms so sweaty thinking about what Blake is saying right now?"_ Weiss thought to herself. "_Maybe…"_ Weiss shook her head. Not right now. She needed to use this time to plan her strategy for dueling class later today. After all, it was the first time she would be in the class without her arm in a sling.

* * *

▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **RUBY** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Ruby sulked as she watched her sister hammer in hit after hit with her Ember Celicas. It wasn't fair. Even though she felt completely fine, she was prohibited from participating in the day's dueling class due to 'extra precautions' that she had to take in her wellbeing. Instead, she was sitting against the wall watching others get to use their weapons. Ruby rolled her eyes. Since coming to Beacon, she literally not had a single chance to use her crescent rose properly.

Of course, there was the time that she had used it during the White Fang attack… but Ruby didn't like to think about that. Though she knew that her actions had been necessary for both her and Weiss's survivability, Ruby didn't savor the idea of using her weapon against other people. Well, at least not with the intention to kill. The reason why she even wanted to become a huntress was to protect other people, so it was counter intuitive that she use her skills to hurt people. She shook the scene out of her head.

"Mrs. Xiao Long," Professor Goodwitch's voice came out through the speakers. "If you would please stop attacking Mr. Thrush. It's clear that he is already past the point of fighting back."

"Oh. Whoops!" Yang exclaimed, not realizing that the beeping indicator of Russell's depleted Aura reserve had gone off. Or really the fact that she had been throwing the poor boy around the room for the past half-minute without any noticeable signs of retaliation. Russell groaned as he was carried out by his teammates.

"Would anybody care to explain the obvious mistakes that Mr. Thrush made while fighting Mrs. Xiao Long?" Professor Goodwitch asked. Ruby rolled her eyes again and sighed, dropping her head into her knees. She was so bored.

* * *

▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **WEISS** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

"Oh, quit it," Weiss said to Ruby, noticing her behavior. "You're going to be able to participate in a few days anyways. One more class isn't going to hurt you." Ruby tilted her head back and shut her eyes, her mouth hanging open.

"You know me Weiss…" Ruby said. "I hate sitting still."

Weiss sighed. "I suppose I do," she replied. Despite what she was telling Ruby, she knew exactly what it felt like not being able to do anything due to injuries. The past two weeks, Weiss had done nothing in this class except for answer Professor Goodwitch's questions and point out the mistakes in the fighting styles in other students. Maybe she could have been a little nicer about the second part.

"Miss Schnee, would you please step up and face your opponent?" Goodwitch's voice rang through the room, causing Weiss to look up. Standing up in the front was Cardin Winchester, mace on his shoulder and a smug look on his face. Weiss stood up and briskly walked to the front of the room. She drew Myrtenaster. "Remember," Professor Goodwitch called out to the pair. "Today, we are still in the stage of observing and mastering pure combat—that means that the usage of dust or glyphs is prohibited."

Weiss already knew that the rule placed a severe limitation on a glyph user like herself, but she was confident that she would be able to hold herself in a fight with Myrtenaster. Quickly scanning Cardin's weapon and stance, she began to formulate her basic battle strategy.

Cardin was of a large, muscular build, and the way that he was able to hold the weight of his mace in one hand without any clear signs of struggle showed that he would have no trouble swinging it when he needed to. A single hit with a large weapon like his mace could potentially cost the entire fight; therefore, one had to make sure that vision of the weapon was never lost when fighting against a wielder of the sort. Overall, the way that the weapon would be used really boiled down to the preference and skill level of the weapon's wielder. That was the general rule for all weapons.

For Cardin himself, Weiss had been unable to observe his actual skill with his mace directly. Cardin had been put on a two week probation back in the second class after he had continued to assault his opponent, Velvet, when she had already surrendered. Though Weiss wasn't personally there to see it, she heard that he had unnecessarily broken a few different parts of Velvet's body despite her pleas for him to stop. Why the boy hadn't been expelled was beyond Weiss. Today was his first day back, and likewise, his second opportunity to satisfy his hedonistically violent cravings.

"And please, control yourself this time Mr. Winchester," Professor Goodwitch called out to him. Cardin rolled his eyes. "_He'll listen to her if he knows what's good for him,"_ Weiss thought to herself. "_That woman is no-nonsense."_

"Weapons ready, and, _begin!"_ Professor Goodwitch shouted.

Weiss raised her rapier in a defensive position, watching her opponent carefully. She wanted to figure out his battle style before committing to make any match-changing decisions.

Cardin grinned. The girl in front of her was easy meat for him. Hopefully he could beat this girl to the point that she couldn't verbally surrender, so he could enjoy himself a little bit more. He put his mace above his head and charged forward, yelling loudly.

Weiss smiled. His form was out of balance, and he gripped the handle of his weapon too low. The way he held his mace gave him more raw power, but less maneuverability in the way he swung, as well as an increased time that he needed to recover in between swings. Not that he seemed to know that. Weiss waited until Cardin was right in her face before making her move. As he clumsily swung his weapon downwards, Weiss spun to her left, bending down and kicking out with her leg in a sweeping motion. Her foot made contact with Cardin's ankle, and he went tumbling to the floor, his momentum causing him to slide forward a few meters on his face.

"It looks like you missed," Weiss said innocently. Cardin growled in a mix of frustration and hostility as he hauled himself off the floor. Gripping his mace tighter, he charged again, this time holding it with both of his hands on his lower left side. Judging from how the end of the mace dipped towards the floor, Weiss anticipated that he would swing it in an upwards, diagonal motion. Her guess was correct; he swung wildly towards her face, hoping to land a solid hit. Unfortunately for Cardin, Weiss knew that the higher the angle of a swing, the easier it was to dodge. Weiss sidestepped to his right and flicked her rapier upwards hard at the hilt of his mace, following the motion of his swing. The extra boost of power caused it to fly out of his hands.

"Now it looks like you've dropped your weapon. How clumsy of you," Weiss said, her face remaining blank.

"You little _bitch_," Cardin spat at her as he entered yet another offensive stance. He attacked with a flurry of slow, different direction swings. Weiss chastised his form each time he swung, dodging them all easily.

"Your back is bent too forward. Your feet are too far apart. Hold your weapon closer to your body. No, not that close! Stop, you're not supposed to look away from your opponent!" Cardin bent over, exhausted. "Oh, now you're exposing your open body to the enemy," Weiss commented. "You wouldn't want to be gobbled up by a beowolf, now, would you?"

Cardin glared at Weiss, his chest heaving up and down as he gasped for breath. He spat on the floor in front of her feet. "The White Fang… should have killed you off when they had the chance. If only that stupid, small red bitch hadn't interfered with—"

A sharp slice rang clearly out through the air. Cardin fell to the floor, unconscious. His breastplate was neatly carved into two pieces. The room went quiet.

"I even warned him that he was exposing his body to me," Weiss said out loud to nobody in particular. Then, she calmly walked amidst the silent, gaping crowd back to where she had been originally standing. Weiss ignored the stares from the other students and masked her face with boredom.

"Well class…" Professor Goodwitch said. "Normally I ask the audience what the loser of the match did incorrectly, but it appears that Miss Schnee has already done that for us."

There was an awkward silence. Professor Goodwitch looked up. "Well then, I suppose that's all we have time for today. Remember to read chapter three, section B from your books by next class. We will be discussing the different forms of basic weapon stances the next time you are here. Dismissed."

Students began to file out of the room. As Weiss began to leave, she caught a glimpse of Yang. The blonde gave her a long, blank look. Yang's eyes flickered up and down, scanning in every part of Weiss. Then she turned and left the room. "_What was that all about?"_ Weiss thought to herself.

"Weeeiiissss!" Came Ruby's voice from behind her. Weiss had the wind knocked out of her as the younger girl tackled her from behind. "That was so cool! You were all like _HIIYAAAAAA_ on Cardin, and he was like awh mayn I'm like ded and stuff."

Weiss scoffed. "Get off of me, Ruby. I was honestly just lucky that he wasn't a very capable fighter. If he were actually a skilled heavy weapon user, I probably would have had to work a lot harder to win."

"A skilled heavy weapon user… like _me_ right?" Ruby asked jokingly, expanding Crescent Rose to its full form. Weiss smiled at Ruby. Then she turned away and began to leave the room.

"Hey wait! What's _that_ supposed to mean?!" Ruby cried out, running after her.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**IIIIIIII**

**A NEW CHAPTER \O/! Thanks to everyone who supported me in the making of this chapter. No, I haven't forgotten about this story! Love you guys, and hope you enjoy! As always, be sure to follow/fav for more, and review if you have questions or feedback for me! Thanks! **

**(don't worry, I gotchu Sharon1234)**

**IIIIIIII**

**NOTE: ALL WORKS BESIDES THE STORY PAST THE INTRO BELONG TO MONTY OUM AND ROOSTER TEETH. I AM IN NO WAY ASSOCIATED WITH ROOSTER TEETH OR MONTY OUM, AND I GIVE NO CLAIM TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL CONCEPTS AND IDEAS BEHIND THIS FANFIC.**

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▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **WEISS** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

_The plated exoskeleton of the Death Stalker is made composed of one the strongest materials in the world. It is why this particular species of Grimm is one of the most widely feared creatures today. Not only does it boast a superior range with its deadly tail along with pincers that can close at speeds of up to seventy miles per hour, its armor also provides it a sense of impenetrable 'absolute defense.' Like most other species of Grimm that have a thick armor composition, its underbelly serves as its biggest weak spot as it lacks proper fortification to stop objects from penetrating it. However, the immense size and nature of how Death Stalkers move and attack often grant little opportunity to attack from underneath. Take immense care when dealing with Death Stalkers. The chances are, you will _not_ win._

Weiss was distracted from her notes by the sound of subtle snoring next to her. Weiss looked up at Ruby, who had a slight line of drool running down the right side of her face.

"_The nerve of this girl,_" Weiss thought to herself. "_She wakes up everybody else in the room almost every day yet spends her time in class asleep."_

She watched the younger girl a little longer. Though it made Weiss twinge in the way that she could sleep so care-freely in the middle of class and miss the material she needed to fight, it was kind of cute the way that she slept. She kept her head upright, but every few seconds, it would begin to tilt dangerously to one side. However, she seemed to manage to catch herself before ever hitting the table.

Weiss sighed lightly. She probably needed to wake her up. There was important things that she was missing in this lesson. Inching closer to her team leader, Weiss lightly tapped Ruby on the shoulder.

"Ruby," Weiss whispered subtly.

Ruby flinched hard.

"Strawberries are the best kind!" Ruby yelled, falling heavily out of her seat onto the floor. The classroom went silent for a moment. Then the students erupted with laughter. Dazed, Ruby blinked the sleep out of her eyes and looked around in confusion.

Professor Port was not as amused. He looked straight at the pair of them, clearing his throat so the laughter would subside.

"Huntresses in training! Do you really believe that you should be wasting the little time you have to learn about the enemy, chit chatting about such nonsensical matters?" He declared across the room. "You must cherish this opportunity while you have it!"

The room became deadly silent. Weiss felt the eyes of everybody in the room on both her and Ruby. Shocked and embarrassed, she was at a loss for words.

"Umm," she heard Ruby's voice next to her, breaking the silence.

….

"What."

The classroom exploded in laughter for the second time. Weiss put her head on the table as, turning even redder with embarrassment. Professor Port, renewing his energy, continued to ramble on about the duties and responsibilities of being a huntress, but she was too embarrassed to even continue listening to him.

"_This girl is _SO _dead once we get out of here,"_ Weiss quietly seethed to herself, clutching her fists tightly against her sides. She ignored Ruby's nervous chuckling as dark thoughts filled her mind.

"I had higher expectations for you two," she heard Professor Port's voice clearly ring out above the noise of the classroom. She couldn't see it because her face was on the table in front of her, but she knew that he had a mask of disproval sitting on his face.

Weiss clutched her fists tighter and clenched her jaw. Boy did she have a lot to say to Ruby after they got out.

* * *

Weiss was silent as she made her way down the hallway. Next to her, Ruby was the same. From the corner of her eyes, Weiss could see Ruby clutching at her textbook with her eyes glued to the floor.

The two continued to walk quietly down the near-empty hallway. The few students that walked alongside them had shared the same class with them before, and they could easily sense the tension in the air. They did their best to either hurry past them or lag behind so they were out of earshot. Or range of Weiss's sword, at least.

That left the hallway relatively silent, with the exception of the occasional unseen murmuring from a random direction.

Step.

…

Step.

…

Step.

…

Step.

…

Step.

…

Step.

…

Step.

…

From Weiss's side, Ruby broke the silence and began to speak.

"Weiss, I—"

"Yes, team leader?" Weiss interrupted, a tight, deadly smile coming onto her face. "Do you need something?"

Ruby stopped, her eyes looking to the side. Weiss stopped with her. She wasn't done. No, there was no chance she was letting Ruby go from this one. There were far too many things that she had the mind to speak right now.

"Do you need some caffeine?" she carried on, her fake smile remaining plastered on her face. "Or some cold water? Or maybe a personal alarm clock to use in class?"

Weiss could almost see the sweat dripping off of Ruby's forehead as her own smile began to disappear. The students that had slowed down before and were now passing the two of them gave Ruby a sympathetic look, but Weiss didn't care.

Or maybe," she continued, "JUST MAYBE, the desire to be a good enough team leader to not DIE out in some fight against some STUPID GRIMM and leave your team alone because you didn't know ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT YOU WERE FIGHTING AGAINST!"

The hallway fell completely silent. Weiss's eyes shone dangerously like a lion staring down at its prey. Her smile was completely gone.

She was angry. Angry that Ruby wasn't taking her responsibilities seriously. Angry that she was endangering them all in the future by her lack of care to study. Angry that in the past two weeks that Weiss had been mercilessly drilling her to improve, she wasn't seeing the any of the results that she liked.

Yes, she was angry.

Ruby was as quiet as the hallway around them. The floor had once again caught her attention.

"_I've got her now,"_ Weiss thought to herself. "_How's she going to get out of this one?"_

An awkward silence had filled the space between the two of them. Weiss waited for a response.

"Umm," Ruby finally spoke after a pause. "Sorry… I'm just… going to go. Study. Or… something. I don't know. Sorry."

Ruby turned away without looking back at Weiss's face. She walked away quickly, not uttering another word.

It wasn't the reaction that Weiss had expected. She watched, slightly stunned, as her partner reached the end of the hallway by herself and disappeared. She waited a few seconds before closing her eyes tightly in frustration. She exhaled slowly through her nose, struggling to regain her control and composure.

Weiss let out a silent, frustrated growl and slammed her fist forcefully against a nearby locker. The sound of her fist striking the locker echoed loudly down the now empty hallway. She had so many conflicting thoughts. So many clashing feelings. So many… emotions.

There, she said it. Her emotions. She knew that they had a big part of why things were happening like they were.

Was this her fault? Was she pushing Ruby too hard? But she _had_ to, she _needed_ to be their team leader. But was this the right way to go about it? It was the way that _she_ had been taught. And that seemed to have worked well enough. Why was Ruby not showing the same results?

She'd tried so hard. For the life of her, she'd tried. For the past two weeks that the pair had been able to walk on their own without crutches, she'd taken it upon herself to personally point out all of the errors that Ruby had been making as a leader and correct them. Things that she personally had learned from countless textbooks and tutors. Things that she expected Ruby to be able to carry out while on the battlefield or on their missions.

Inside, Weiss sighed in frustration. Ruby excelled when it came to fighting. Though her form was still pretty sloppy, she knew for the most part how to handle her scythe.

But everything else? The things she actually needed to know when it came to leading a team? Why did it seem so hard for her to keep up?

Weiss clenched her fists. She didn't know what to do. She was confused, but she refused to admit it. Deciding finally to blow off her steam on the dust simulator, Weiss turned around briskly and began to walk in the direction of the training grounds.

She wasn't ready to deal with this. Not here. Not now. Doing her best to clear her feelings from her head the same way she'd done so many times in the past, she willed her thoughts to melt away like the echoing of her footsteps in the hallway as she turned the corner and disappeared.

* * *

▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **RUBY** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Ruby did her best to hold in her tears. What was she doing wrong? Didn't Weiss know how hard she was trying? Couldn't Weiss see the sweat and blood and tears that she was pouring out so she could shape herself to the leader that Weiss wanted her to be? Why couldn't Weiss just understand how difficult it was for her, a fifteen year old nobody, to catch onto the advanced concepts that Weiss was raining down on top of her?

She was glad that Yang and Blake weren't in the same classroom as she and Weiss were when the incident had occurred. It would have been embarrassing for them to have known about the mistake that she'd made of sleeping in class. But finding her mistakes seemed to be an exclusive ability of Weiss—and she did one hell of a good job at doing that.

Ever since her dustplane had arrived in Beacon and she'd learned that she would be partners with Weiss, Ruby had never felt so inadequate in her life. From the time that she'd spent recovering with Weiss and every moment afterward, her life seemed only to be about fighting. And strategizing. And leading.

Leading. Ruby scoffed aloud. What did she of all people know about leading a team? And why couldn't anybody see that she was completely worn out? Why had Ozpin forced this responsibility onto her? She wasn't capable of this much pressure. She wasn't capable of meeting Weiss's expectations. At this point, she didn't feel capable of _anything_.

And she was angry. Angry at Professor Ozpin for making her life this way. Angry at Weiss for being able to understand her. Angry at herself for not being able to keep up.

Was a sword in her chest just not good enough for Weiss to become her friend? What more did she have to possibly do to gain her approval?

Her tears were beginning to leak out from the corner of her eyes. She couldn't hold them in for much longer. The more she thought about everything happening to her, the stronger her tears rebelled against her eyelids and made the effort to break out of their restraints.

Ruby didn't know what to do. Where to go. She didn't want to go back to her room, where she would have to confront Yang and Blake about her situation. They'd be able to tell right away that something was wrong. And even worse, she might even see Weiss back at the room. She'd made such a large effort to suppress her emotions before walking away from her, and she knew for sure that she wouldn't be able to perform such a feat if she were to see her again.

Walking in no particular direction, Ruby let herself stray outside. Letting her feet lead her, she soon found herself standing at the edge of the entrance of the campus, where she had stepped foot on Beacon Academy for the first time from the loading bay of the dust plane. Nobody ever came out here. Not this far away from the school. Ruby let herself sit down on one of the empty benches nearby.

The tears finally came out. It was the first time that Ruby had cried since that day that Weiss had brought her close to her and told her that everything would be okay.

But she had lied.

Nothing was okay.

Weiss and Blake and her professors and even Yang… they all just expected so _much_ out of her. Didn't they know that she was just a child? She was just a _child._ Yeah, so maybe she knew how to twirl a scythe around and stop a few stupid thieves, but when put into context, she was so _incapable_ of holding up these expectations that weighed down on her like a boulder. She couldn't talk to anybody around her, nobody would even come close to understanding. The other students—they actually _belonged _here. For the first time, Ruby was seriously doubting if her admission to this elite school really was a mistake.

"_What are you even __DOING__ here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?_" Ruby recalled Weiss's words from the first day that she arrived here at Beacon.

Those words. They'd crushed her. Ruby sniffled and looked up.

How things had been so different in the few weeks before when she had first stepped into this area. Things had been great then. A new school, a new opportunity, a new life. She remembered smelling the sweet air of the campus for the first time and seeing the bright atmosphere of the school.

She also remembered exploding just ten feet from where she was now sitting. That had been the first time that she'd met Weiss. The beautiful, stubborn, smart, haughty girl that had captivated all of her attention.

Of all people, why did it have to be her? Why was she so… strangely attracted to this girl? Was Yang right? Was it a mistake to ever even befriend her?

Deep down, Ruby knew why she wanted Weiss to accept her so badly. She knew why she was so desperate to gain her approval. In a sense, she even knew why Weiss acted the way that she did.

Whether Weiss herself knew it or not, Ruby knew something that nobody else did. Despite the front that Weiss put on day after day that fooled so many of the people around her, Ruby could see through it all.

Her eyes missed nothing.

The flashes of uncertainty in many of the small things that she did. The way that she pretended not to care about how others thought about her but looked the way she did after every insult. The loneliness—the fear that she allowed to slip into her eyes every now and then.

The signs—they were all there. Ruby knew because she'd been there before.

Weiss was lonely.

She wanted to help her. To reach out to her. To let her know that _somebody_ understood.

But did any of that matter at this point? Ruby had tried _so _hard just to befriend her, but nothing seemed to be working. Talking, connecting, neither of the two were Ruby's strong points. The only thing she really knew how to do well was fight, but even that was something that had been stripped away from her with every single one of Weiss's demeaning comments about her improper fighting style.

What else could she do? Why couldn't she just be _good enough _to make Weiss understand that SHE UNDERSTOOD? Why did Weiss have to push her _so_ hard?

"_She's only pushing you because she wants what's best for you,"_ Ruby thought to herself. And she knew it was true. But she just couldn't keep up. She was so worn out—so tired from the two weeks of nonstop training, studying, and flat-out being scrutinized for every little mistake and yelled at for each one.

Ruby let out a sigh of frustration and put her head into her hands. She was so tired of this. She just wanted to go home. She just wanted to… to… she didn't even know anymore. What did she even want to do?

Suddenly, Ruby heard a sound behind her.

"Fancy seeing somebody else out here during this time of the year," came a voice from the same direction.

Ruby spun around. Instantly, she recognized the dark coat, the green scarf, the cane. The voice that seemed to transcend the clumsy errors of man.

"P-professor Ozpin," Ruby started, surprised. She stared at him for a brief moment before realizing the position she was in. She hastily wiped at her eyes.

"What are you doing out here?"

"It can be quite difficult to find some alone time on the campus," he replied, idling shifting his grip on the top of his cane. "It's always Professor Ozpin this, Professor Ozpin that, we have a problem in the main entrance, somebody is here to see you, have you gotten those files ready to present in tomorrow's student showcase? It can all get very tiring at times. I find this spot in particular to usually be the best for getting away from it all."

Ruby couldn't help but smiling at his words. It was comforting to know that, despite his status as the headmaster of an elite school, he was still capable of feeling and displaying the burdens that rested on his shoulders. It was comforting to know that… somebody understood.

The two were silent for a moment as Professor Ozpin calmly looked around at the beautiful scenery of the area.

"Problems regarding your position as a team leader, I suppose?" He said finally, still looking nonchalantly at the flowers behind Ruby.

She nodded slowly, re-wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She knew that she was angry with him before but… something about this man in particular made her feel so comfortable. So easy to just pour out everything she was feeling and not care about whether or not she was being judged or tested.

"Yeah… I just… I dunno," Ruby said, twirling her cloak around her finger. "It just feels like such a large responsibility sometimes. At times, I just feel like I can't keep up with what is expected of me. And that nobody really understands what I'm actually feeling." Ruby looked down at the floor, her attention settling on a pair of ants that was running around near her feet. She noted the way that they seemed to be working together to inspect the large foreign boot that had invaded their territory—watching out for each other in order to defend from any sudden movements. Ironic, given her own situation with Weiss.

Above her, she heard Professor Ozpin begin to laugh. Puzzled, she brought her attention back up to his face.

"I could not have said it better myself, Mrs. Rose," he said, smiling in her direction. "There are so many times that I have the exact thoughts running through my own head."

Confused, Ruby tilted her head to the side. "But you're the headmaster of a highly respected school, how could you possibly feel that way about yourself?"

Ozpin smiled again.

"Whether you know it or not, you and I are both very similar, Ruby," he said. He pushed his glasses farther onto his nose using two of his fingers. "We're both leading a team of people that hold very high expectations of us, and furthermore, sometimes it can feel like we're alienated from the very group of people that we're leading because of it."

Ruby was silent as she listened to him continue.

"It becomes very easy to become lost in the responsibilities that you're expected to handle."

Ruby couldn't agree more. If there was ever another time to feel lost in her life, now was probably it.

"Just remember, Mrs. Rose, not to lose who you are in all that happens." Ozpin spoke, looking Ruby directly in the eyes. "Despite the fancy titles, it is _you_ who is expected to carry out these responsibilities. When I picked out leaders for the teams at the beginning of the year, I didn't choose the mask that you currently seem to be hiding behind."

Ruby returned Ozpin's gaze as he continued to talk.

"Be yourself. That's the best advice that I can give, and it's something that took me a very long time for me to learn myself."

Ruby stared in wonder at the man standing before her. She'd never thought of him in the sense that he could also feel separated from the ones that he was leading. Ruby realized that he was right. In fact, everything that he'd said had struck home.

She looked back at the campus of Beacon. The campus of opportunities. Of life. Ruby inhaled the sweet smell of the air around her as she noticed again how every scenic element of the campus made it seem so bright and welcoming. She smiled and turned back to Professor Ozpin, but he was gone.

But that was okay.

She'd heard what she needed to hear.

If she was going to do this, she needed to do it right. She needed to be honest with Weiss, even if that meant hurting her own pride in doing so. Standing up fully, Ruby began walking back in the direction of the main entrance of the school. She was ready to finally open up.

* * *

▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬ **WEISS** ▬❄▬❄▬❄▬❄▬

Weiss walked slowly and angrily, breathing heavily from exhaustion and frustration as she made her way back to her room.

Their words—they had stung. She wanted to forget the things that they'd said to her, but she knew that she wouldn't any time soon. The events of the training grounds involuntarily flashed back to her mind.

It had started out well enough. Weiss always felt most comfortable with her sword in her hand, and the Grimm projections that were being produced from the dust generator were doing well to clear her head from the storm of emotions that had been clouding her thoughts. She felt better—more relaxed and able to think. To brainstorm. To conjure up a new way of helping Ruby reach her potential as a leader.

Weiss knew that she could do it. And she swore to herself that she would make it happen, for the sake of both herself and Ruby.

Then, things had gone sour. Of all people that had chosen to train in that particular time, it just had to be Cardin's ugly group of friends. They entered loudly, and instantly after noticing her, they'd begin harassing her endlessly about the events that had happened earlier in the day.

"_You two sure make a great team,"_ Cardin's voice echoed in her mind. "_I wonder which one of you comes up with the stupid responses to the professors?" _

Weiss huffed loudly, nearly at the point of stomping up the stairs.

From that point, their insults only worsened. Not only did they attack Ruby and herself as a team, but their comments began shifting to her as a person.

"_Why are you such a bitch? Did your parents leave you as a child? I can't imagine anybody ever wanting you, really."_

Weiss ended up leaving the training feeling hurt and humiliated. She felt angry and sad and frustrated and helpless all at the same time. Her day had shifted from bad to worse when the clumsy blonde-haired kid—Jaune—had made yet another clumsy attempt to gain her attention.

But she knew he wasn't sincere. He was only after what his eyes saw. But nobody in this school really had eyes for who she really was. Nobody.

Weiss pushed that thought out of her mind as she unlocked her room door and entered the room.

It was empty. Weiss sighed in relief.

But then she heard a sound on Ruby's bed. The one that wasn't so empty. It was Ruby.

Weiss closed her eyes. She didn't want to do this right now. She couldn't do this right now. She just needed… time alone. To think. To… she didn't know. Do whatever. She watched in regret as Ruby climbed down from her bed.

"Weiss," Ruby said quietly. "I need to talk to you."

"Ruby, not now," Weiss said, doing her best to avoid conversation with her partner. She didn't know how long she could maintain her self-control. Today was just not the day to talk.

"No, I need to talk to you." Ruby said, a slight edge of urgency building up in her voice. "Today."

Weiss shut her eyes, putting her fingers on her forehead and tilting her head to the side in frustration. "Ruby, I'm having a very bad day right now." Weiss said, her voice also increasing slightly in volume. "_Please_, just save it for another day." She turned away, expecting for Ruby to back down the way she did whenever she raised her voice.

"No, Weiss." Ruby said, walking forward to block Weiss's path. "This is serious. It's really important—for me. I need to talk to you. Now."

Weiss looked up, slightly stunned. Then her face hardened. "Okay, fine!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air. She was done. She was done holding it all in. "What is _soooooooooooo_ important that you can't even wait twelve hours to share with me? This better be _really_, _really_ good or I don't even know what I'm going to do."

Ruby took a step back, not expecting the amount of hostility that had been sprayed all across the room with the remark. She took a deep breath, doing her best to control what she was going to say.

"It's… it's just… the way you've been treating me Weiss. It's just not fair. How hard you're pushing me. What you're expecting of me. It's becoming too much for me to handle, and I—"

"Well of _course_ I'm pushing you, you dolt!" Weiss interrupted, "How else do you expect to improve from what you are right now?"

Did she not get it? It's not like she spent hours training her just because it was _fun._

"From what I am right now?" Ruby asked, her voice beginning to become louder. "What I am _right now_? What AM I RIGHT NOW?" Ruby cried out loudly. "Am I just a tool to you? Something that you can USE to make yourself look better? I'm a PERSON TOO, Weiss!"

"Don't be stupid, Ruby, I know that!" Weiss shot back, clenching her fists. "All of this work that I've been pouring into you, it's been for YOU! I'm not doing this for MYSELF, I'm trying to TRAIN YOU so you can actually DO YOUR JOB AS A LEADER! I'm not going to serve under an IDIOT! Right now, all I see is a child who slacks off and SLEEPS during class time while she's supposed to be LEARNING! You need to GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER, RUBY!"

"And you think I will by shouting at me while I'm trying to master a new technique?" Ruby countered loudly. "By telling me that I'm not working hard enough even though I invest hours EVERY DAY just READING YOUR STUPID BOOKS ON STRATEGY AND LEADERSHIP? Just WHAT am I doing that doesn't meet your expectations?"

"Don't even GIVE me that Ruby!" Weiss said, letting out a laugh amidst the tension in the room. "When _I_ was your age, I didn't even GET the amount of free time in a WEEK that you do in a DAY! Consider yourself LUCKY!"

"I'M NOT YOU, WEISS!" Ruby retaliated fiercely. "STOP TREATING ME LIKE I AM! You can pour this information and knowledge that YOU received when you were back at your manor with all of your TUTORS and TEACHERS, but I'm NOT going to learn it all in a WEEK!"

"What am I SUPPOSED to do?" Weiss yelled back. "You don't even seem to be TRYING, Ruby! Without me, you wouldn't be ANYWHERE in your studies. I'm PUSHING you so you'll do these things ON YOUR OWN, and I shouldn't even NEED to be doing the things I am!

"Then WHY ARE YOU?" Ruby finally cried. "WHY are you PUSHING me so HARD?"

"BECAUSE I AM NOT GOING TO LOSE YOU AGAIN RUBY!" Weiss screamed back at her, tears welling up in her eyes. "I AM NOT GOING TO SIT HERE AND BE THE PERSON THAT WATCHES YOU DIE AGAIN BECAUSE I WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH TO SAVE YOU!"

Ruby's mouth shut quickly. The answer was not what she expected at all.

"DO YOU THINK I ENJOY YELLING AT YOU RUBY? DO YOU THINK IT MAKES ME HAPPY WHEN I SIT WITH YOU AND SEE ALL THE POTENTIAL WAYS THAT AN ENEMY COULD KILL YOU?"

Weiss began losing control of her speech, and her words began to come out in short sobs.

"DO YOU… KNOW HOW MANY… TIMES I'VE WATCHED… YOU DIE IN MY DREAMS? I AM NOT… GOING TO LOSE YOU RUBY! I AM NOT… GOING TO WATCH YOU DIE AGAIN! YOU'RE THE ONLY… PERSON THAT HAS REACHED OUT TO ME IN THE LAST SEVENTEEN YEARS OF MY STUPID LIFE AND I AM… NOT… PREPARED TO LOSE YOU AGAIN!"

Weiss's voice cracked at the last sentence. She couldn't stop herself. All of the feelings that she'd had stored inside of her...

They were out now.

Like a dam bursting, her pent up tears of guilt and frustration that she had been keeping to herself this whole time came flooding out of her eyes.

Ashamed, Weiss turned away from Ruby and covered her face with her arm. However, despite how she felt about the given situation, she didn't try to stop her tears. Right now, she was too overcome by the emotions she'd been hiding away inside of her for so long.

Weiss heard Ruby's footsteps approach her.

"W-Weiss…" She heard Ruby say. "I… didn't realize that you felt that way."

Weiss felt Ruby's hand gently grab her shoulder. Weiss sank down to her knees, not wanting to be touched by her. She felt vulnerable and weak. It had been years since she'd cried in the way that she was doing right now. She was embarrassed… About everything. About how it had come to this. About the fact that she was now on the floor, crying in front of a girl that was two years younger than her. But she continued to let her tears fall from her eyes.

"Weiss," Ruby spoke again, gently. "I'm sorry. I-I'm sorry that you felt this way this whole time."

Weiss heard Ruby kneel down in front of her.

"But listen," Ruby said, directly in front of her face. "I'm not going to die, okay?" Weiss looked up through her tears at Ruby.

"Y-you can't be sure of that, you dolt," Weiss said, swallowing hard and clearing her vision with the back of her hand, still facing away from Ruby.

Weiss felt a gentle hand touch her chin and guide her face back around. Her eyes found those of Ruby's, who was returning her gaze softly. Weiss swallowed again, but didn't turn away.

"Yes I can," Ruby replied softly. "I swear, I'm not going to die in front of you because of some stupid fight we're in, okay?"

"Promise…" Weiss whispered back, doing her best to keep her voice from cracking and blink the tears out of her eyes. "Promise me, Ruby."

Ruby smiled.

"I promise, Weiss. I promise I'm not going to die because of you."

Weiss put her face into Ruby's cloak. She didn't care about her own image at this point. Instead, she took her time to inhale the pleasant scent of flowers that surrounded Ruby's clothes.

Inside, she felt a weight being pulled off of her shoulders. She'd been keeping these feelings to herself for the longest time. But they were finally out. She was finally free. She stayed still for a moment, just letting herself rest her face on Ruby's shoulder. She felt Ruby's gentle hands on her back—comforting her. Letting her know that she was there.

Comforting hands that she'd never received when she was a child.

"I'm sorry, Ruby," Weiss spoke, her voice cracking again slightly. "I'm sorry that I pushed you so hard, Ruby. I just didn't know what to do."

"It's okay, Weiss," Ruby replied calmly. "I understand. I understand."

The two sat on the floor together for a few more moments, just feeling comfortable in each other's presence.

Ruby had changed her life.

She wasn't going to lose her. No, she wasn't going to lose Ruby. She wouldn't. She wouldn't.

Suddenly, Weiss heard a sound—it was of a room card being swiped against the door and a locking mechanism sliding open.

The door opened.

Standing above her and Ruby were a very confused looking Blake, accompanied by a shocked Yang.

"Umm…" Blake said after a pause. "Is this… a bad time?"

* * *

**A/N: Once again, sorry for the inactivity. My time management still isn't the greatest in the world, haha. But I tried to make this chapter a little longer and a little more meaningful to make up for it! Hope you enjoyed!**


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